Elizabeth Ashford

Moral Philosophy (my areas of particular interest are the formulation of utiltiarianism; utilitarian and Kantian conceptions of impartiality and their implications for the demandingness of our obligations to those in need; and the possiblity of a pluralist intergration of Kantianism and utilitarianism).

Political Philosophy (my areas of particular interest are Kantian contractualism, human rights, and global justice)

My next main research project is to write a book entitled Utilitarianism and Partiality. I argue that the way utilitarianism has come to be formulated departs both from a credible conception of two of its central tenets, welfarism and impartiality, and from the more subtle way it was formulated by its original proponents. I suggest a more plausible formulation of utilitarianism, and argue that it can offer a compelling response to John Rawls's separateness of persons objection and Bernard Williams's integrity objection. This response avoids being ad hoc, because it is based on the main tenets of utilitarianism. I am currently preparing a book proposal for OUP.

Another future research project is to argue that on a more plausible formulation of utilitarianism it is not fundamentally incompatible with Kantianism, and to suggest a way of integrating the two moral theories within a pluralist framework.

I will also continue to work on severe poverty as a human rights violation.