s c o t t  a.  a n d e r s o n

Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of British Columbia

Contact Info

Buchanan E373
1866 East Mall
Vancouver, BC
V6T 1Z1 Canada

Tel: (604) 822-4769

Areas of Specialization:

Practical Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Sex and Gender

I am interested in a wide range of topics associated generally with ethics, political philosophy, social theory, sex/gender/feminism.  I am particularly interested in the ways that social practices, historical development, and human development (though a roughly Aristotelian lens) contribute to ethics and politics.  Much of my work investigates certain key concepts in ethical thinking (such as coercion, guilt, privacy, consent, responsibility), and how thinking about such concepts relates to other concepts and the practices in which such concepts play a functional role.  Another principal strand in my work is the way theories involving these concepts interact with "the real world," and in particular how such theories affect and are affected by gender relations in contemporary western society.  My "side projects" include some research on the nature of action (and "moral psychology" more generally), economics and the place of debt and contracts in society, and a more systematic text in ethical theory (on the far back burner).

My approach to these matters is roughly "neo-Aristotelian," and takes a good deal of inspiration from the work of recent philosophers such as G.E.M. Anscombe, Bernard Williams, Michael Thompson, and my teachers at the University of Chicago, Candace Vogler and Martha Nussbaum.

Opportunity for Graduate Student Research Assistance: 

Project on "The Regulation of Coercion"

From 2012-2016, I will be conducting research with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada on "The Regulation of Coercion."  This project is interdisciplinary, and looks at how coercion operates in several domains, including law, gender-relations, and the stored information in networked databases.  This project will lead to a major collaborative workshop, currently scheduled for 2015.  This project will also provide opportunities for graduate student research assistance, with the expectation that such graduate assistants will develop their own expertise in this area, and be able to publish work in collaboration with this project.  Those considering graduate study in philosophy who might wish to study at UBC should contact me for more information, or note interest in this project if you think you would like to work in this area.