Nicholas Southwood
Email: nicholas.southwood@anu.edu.au
Phone: x53226
Location: Rm 3208
Nicholas Southwood is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. From 2008-2011, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford. He works primarily in moral and political philosophy with regular incursions into the neighbouring regions of epistemology, philosophy of action, philosophy of law and philosophy of social science. Some of the things he has worked on include contractualism, normativity, rationality, promises, democracy and human rights. He is the author of two monographs, Contractualism and the Foundations of Morality (OUP, 2010) and Explaining Norms (OUP, 2013) and many articles in journals including Ethics, Mind and Noûs. His current research focuses on two main areas: a) the role of feasibility in moral and political theory; and b) the nature of practical reason and normativity. He is currently Chief Investigator on a three-year project, Political Normativity and the Feasibility Requirement, funded by an ARC Discovery Grant (with Geoffrey Brennan and David Estlund). He is Co-Editor of The Journal of Political Philosophy.
Recent Publications
Books
- Explaining Norms, Oxford University Press, 2013 (with G. Brennan, L. Eriksson and R. Goodin).
- Contractualism and the Foundations of Morality, Oxford University Press, 2010.
Articles
- ‘Democracy as a Modally Demanding Value’, Noûs, forthcoming.
- ‘The Moral/Conventional Distinction’, Mind, 120, 2011, 761-802.
- ‘What is Special About Human Rights?’ Ethics & International Affairs, 25, 2011, 369-83 (with C. Barry).
- ‘Norms and Conventions’, Philosophical Explorations, 14, 2011, 195-217 (with L. Eriksson).
- ‘Promises and Trust’, Promises and Agreements, ed. H. Sheinman, Oxford University Press, 2011, 275-92 (with D. Friedrich).
- ‘The Authority of Social Norms’, New Waves in Meta-Ethics, ed. M. Brady, Palgrave MacMillan, 2010, 234-48.
- ‘Epistemic Norms Without Voluntary Control’, Noûs, 43, 2009, 599-632 (with P. Chuard).
- ‘Moral Contractualism’, Philosophy Compass, 4, 2009, 926-37.
- ‘Promises Beyond Assurance’, Philosophical Studies, 144, 2009, 261-80 (with D. Friedrich).
- ‘A Deliberative Model of Contractualism’, Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 8, 2008, 183-208.
- ‘Vindicating the Normativity of Rationality’, Ethics, 119, 2008, 9-30.
