I present some problems for phenomenal (i.e. consciousness-based) accounts of personal identity and egoistic concern. These accounts typically rely on continuity in the capacity for consciousness to explain how we survive ordinary periods of unconsciousness such as dreamless sleep. I offer some thought experiments where continuity in the capacity for consciousness does not seem sufficient for ...

Structural injustice is a special class of injustice which stems not from unjust or negligent governments, legislatures, groups of individuals, but from unjust social structures. Such social structures include the patriarchy, structural racism, and the class structure generating unjust social inequalities. Who is responsible for creating and abolishing such structural injustices? The most influential ...

The aim of this paper is to explore apragmatic approach to hope and the ethicsof belief that allowsrationalhope against hope. Hope against hope is hope thatgoes beyond what the evidence supports by hoping for something that is bothhighlyunlikelyand highlyvaluable.¹However,this could take different forms.One could either hope against the evidence or merelygobeyond it; the evidencecould be inconclusive ...

There are two main ways of understanding the function of surrogate decision making in a legal context: the Best Interests Standard and the Substituted Judgment Standard. First, we will argue that the Best Interests Standard is difficult to apply to unconscious patients. Application is difficult regardless of whether they have ever been conscious. Second, we will argue that if we accept the least ...

This article discusses some of the normative bases for the recent (2020) Norwegian policy prioritizing LGBTIQ+ refugees in refugee admissions. It argues that, when properly interpreted, this policy is compatible with the UNHCR vulnerability selection criteria but is not independently supported by it. Combined with some of the broader moral principles guiding refugee admissions – including both ...

Let us start our introduction to utilitarianism with an example that shows how utilitarians answer the following question, “Can the ends justify the means?” Imagine that Peter is an unemployed poor man in New York. Although he has no money, his family still depends on him; his unemployed wife (Sandra) is sick and needs $500 for treatment, and their little children (Ann and Sam) have been thrown out ...

This article discusses the self-respect argument for basic liberties, which is that self-respect is an important good, best supported by basic liberties, and that this yields a reason for the traditional liberty principle. I concentrate on versions of it that contend that self-respect is best supported by basic liberties for reasons related to the recognition that such liberties convey. I first ...

Many authors argue that refugees should be enfranchised independently of citizenship. The enfranchisement of refugees is often seen as crucial for affirming their agency in the politics of asylum. However, most arguments in the literature do not explain why precisely it matters that they exercise their agency in the realm of democratic decision-making, i.e. why it matters that refugees participate ...

The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the conceptualization of the contemporary Sami struggles for life and land. In doing so, I conduct a philosophical investigation of the emerging concept of “green colonialism.” The former president of the Sami parliament in Norway, Aili Keskitalo, has in multiple occasions invoked the term “green colonialism” to describe the contemporary implementation of ...

I begin this chapter with research, reported recently in The Atlantic, on the surprising phenomenon that many successful women, all accomplished and highly competent, exhibit high degrees of self-doubt. Unlike the original research, this chapter aims to bring into view the role self-respect plays in higher education as another crucial explanatory factor. First, I clarify the main concepts that are ...