Roger Crisp

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Roger Crisp
Born (1961-03-23) 23 March 1961 (age 63)
Brentwood, Essex, England, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Alma mater St Anne's College, Oxford
(B.A., B.Phil., D.Phil.)
Era Contemporary philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Analytic philosophy
Institutions Magdalen College, Oxford
St Anne's College, Oxford
Hertford College, Oxford
Boston University
Main interests
Ethics
Website Official website

Roger Stephen Crisp (born 23 March 1961) [1] is fellow and tutor in philosophy at St. Anne's College, Oxford. [2] He holds the university posts of Professor of Moral Philosophy and Uehiro Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy. His work falls principally within the field of ethics, in particular metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. In addition, he is chairman of the Management Committee of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. [3]

Contents

Education

Originally from Brentwood, Essex, Crisp began his higher education at St. Anne's College, Oxford in 1979, where he read Literae Humaniores. He was amongst the first male cohort to study at this previously all-female college. He was taught by, amongst others, Margaret Howatson, Gabriele Taylor, Iris Murdoch, and Peter Derow. In 1983 he commenced the B.Phil., and from 1985 until 1988 he worked on his D.Phil., writing his thesis on utilitarianism.

Career

In 1986 Crisp began his first academic post, as a junior lecturer in philosophy at Magdalen College, Oxford; he returned to St Anne's for two years beginning in 1987 as a lecturer in philosophy, before taking up a lecturing post at Hertford College in 1988–1989. In 1989–1991 he moved to University College, as a British Academy Research Fellow and Honorary Junior Research Fellow. In 1991 he returned to St Anne's to take up a permanent post as Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, succeeding Gabriele Taylor. For the first time in his career, Crisp temporarily left Oxford and spent the academic year 2010–2011 at Boston University to explore his interest in the moral philosophy of Henry Sidgwick. [4]

Arguably Crisp's most significant work to date is Reasons and the Good (2006), in which he advances some novel approaches to the oldest questions in ethics. The central thesis of this work is that a fundamental issue in normative ethics is what ultimate reasons might underlie our actions; Crisp argues that the best exposition of such reasons will not employ moral concepts. [5]

Other major works include a translation of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics , [6] and the Routledge Guidebook to Mill on Utilitarianism . [7] He was editor of the Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics (2013). [8]

Personal life

Crisp is married with two daughters.[ citation needed ]

Select publications

This is a selection of Crisp's recent publications. For an exhaustive list download the PDF file on his page on the Oxford University Philosophy Faculty website.

Books

Edited books

Chapters in books

Journal articles

Podcast

Conference papers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consequentialism</span> Ethical theory based on consequences

In moral philosophy, consequentialism is a class of normative, teleological ethical theories that holds that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for judgement about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act is one that will produce a good outcome. Consequentialism, along with eudaimonism, falls under the broader category of teleological ethics, a group of views which claim that the moral value of any act consists in its tendency to produce things of intrinsic value. Consequentialists hold in general that an act is right if and only if the act will produce, will probably produce, or is intended to produce, a greater balance of good over evil than any available alternative. Different consequentialist theories differ in how they define moral goods, with chief candidates including pleasure, the absence of pain, the satisfaction of one's preferences, and broader notions of the "general good".

In ethical philosophy, ethical egoism is the normative position that moral agents ought to act in their own self-interest. It differs from psychological egoism, which claims that people can only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism, which holds that it is rational to act in one's self-interest. Ethical egoism holds, therefore, that actions whose consequences will benefit the doer are ethical.

Ethics or moral philosophy is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. It investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. It is usually divided into three major fields: normative ethics, applied ethics, and metaethics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jurisprudence</span> Theoretical study of law

Jurisprudence is the philosophy and theory of law. It is concerned primarily with both what law is and what it ought to be. That includes questions of how persons and social relations are understood in legal terms, and of the values in and of law. Work that is counted as jurisprudence is mostly philosophical, but it includes work that also belongs to other disciplines, such as sociology, history, politics and economics.

Normative ethics is the study of ethical behaviour and is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates questions regarding how one ought to act, in a moral sense.

In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that ensure the greatest good for the greatest number. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different characterizations, the basic idea behind all of them is, in some sense, to maximize utility, which is often defined in terms of well-being or related concepts. For instance, Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, described utility thus:

That property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness ... [or] to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness to the party whose interest is considered.

Eudaimonia, sometimes anglicized as eudaemonia or eudemonia, is a Greek word literally translating to the state or condition of 'good spirit', and which is commonly translated as 'happiness' or 'welfare'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Sidgwick</span> English philosopher and economist (1838–1900)

Henry Sidgwick was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist and is best known in philosophy for his utilitarian treatise The Methods of Ethics. His work in economics has also had a lasting influence. He was the Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1883 until his death. He was one of the founders and first president of the Society for Psychical Research and a member of the Metaphysical Society and promoted the higher education of women. In 1875, with Millicent Garrett Fawcett, he co-founded Newnham College, a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It was the second Cambridge college to admit women, after Girton College. In 1856, Sidgwick joined the Cambridge Apostles intellectual secret society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtue ethics</span> Normative ethical theories

Virtue ethics is an approach that treats virtue and character as the primary subjects of ethics, in contrast to other ethical systems that put consequences of voluntary acts, principles or rules of conduct, or obedience to divine authority in the primary role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalind Hursthouse</span> New Zealand philosopher (born 1943)

Rosalind Hursthouse is a British-born New Zealand moral philosopher noted for her work on virtue ethics. She is one of the leading exponents of contemporary virtue ethics, though she has also written extensively on philosophy of action, history of philosophy, moral psychology, and biomedical ethics. Hursthouse is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of Auckland and Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

<i>Nicomachean Ethics</i> Aristotles theory of virtue ethics grounded in natural philosophy and human teleology

The Nicomachean Ethics is among Aristotle's best-known works on ethics: the science of the good for human life, that which is the goal or end at which all our actions aim. It consists of ten sections, referred to as books, and is closely related to Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics. The work is essential for the interpretation of Aristotelian ethics.

Michael A. Slote is a professor of ethics at the University of Miami and an author of a number of books.

Phronesis is a type of wisdom or intelligence concerned with practical action. It implies both good judgment and excellence of character and habits, and was a common topic of discussion in ancient Greek philosophy. Classical works about this topic are still influential today. In Aristotelian ethics, the concept was distinguished from other words for wisdom and intellectual virtues—such as episteme and sophia—because of its practical character. The traditional Latin translation is prudentia, which is the source of the English word "prudence".

Ethical intuitionism is a view or family of views in moral epistemology. It is foundationalism applied to moral knowledge, the thesis that some moral truths can be known non-inferentially. Such an epistemological view is by definition committed to the existence of knowledge of moral truths; therefore, ethical intuitionism implies cognitivism.

<i>Utilitarianism</i> (book) 1861 essay by John Stuart Mill

Utilitarianism is an 1861 essay written by English philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill, considered to be a classic exposition and defence of utilitarianism in ethics. It was originally published as a series of three separate articles in Fraser's Magazine in 1861 before it was collected and reprinted as a single work in 1863. The essay explains utilitarianism to its readers and addresses the numerous criticism against the theory during Mill's lifetime. It was heavily criticized upon publication; however, since then, Utilitarianism gained significant popularity and has been considered "the most influential philosophical articulation of a liberal humanistic morality that was produced in the nineteenth century."

Aristotle first used the term ethics to name a field of study developed by his predecessors Socrates and Plato which is devoted to the attempt to provide a rational response to the question of how humans should best live. Aristotle regarded ethics and politics as two related but separate fields of study, since ethics examines the good of the individual, while politics examines the good of the city-state, which he considered to be the best type of community.

"Modern Moral Philosophy" is an article on moral philosophy by G. E. M. Anscombe, originally published in the journal Philosophy, vol. 33, no. 124.

<i>The Methods of Ethics</i> 1874 book by Henry Sidgwick

The Methods of Ethics is a book on ethics first published in 1874 by the English philosopher Henry Sidgwick. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy indicates that The Methods of Ethics "in many ways marked the culmination of the classical utilitarian tradition." Noted moral and political philosopher John Rawls, writing in the Forward to the Hackett reprint of the 7th edition, says Methods of Ethics "is the clearest and most accessible formulation of ... 'the classical utilitarian doctrine'". Contemporary utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer has said that the Methods "is simply the best book on ethics ever written."

John Alexander Stewart was a Scottish writer, educator and philosopher. He was a university professor and classical lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford from 1875 to 1883, White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford, and professorial fellow of Corpus Christi College, from 1897 to his retirement in 1927. Throughout his academic career, he was an editor and author of works on Aristotle and considered one of the foremost experts on the subject. His best known books were Notes on the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle (1892) and The Myths of Plato (1905).

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that examines right and wrong moral behavior, moral concepts and moral language. Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior". The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns matters of value, and thus comprises the branch of philosophy called axiology.

References

  1. "Crisp, Roger, 1961-". Library of Congress. Retrieved 24 July 2014. CIP t.p. (Roger Crisp, University College, Oxford) data sheet (b. 3-23-61)
  2. Profile page: Roger Crisp, St. Annes, Oxford University.
  3. Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics Archived 11 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Boston University, news.
  5. Crisp, Roger (2006). Reasons and the Good. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199290338.
  6. Crisp, Roger (2000). Aristotle: Nicomachean ethics. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521635462.
  7. Crisp, Roger (1997). Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Mill on Utilitarianism. London New York: Routledge. ISBN   9780415109789.
  8. Crisp, Roger, ed. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-175035-9.