CURRICULUM VITAE

Alastair James Norcross

Department of Philosophy

Rice University

Houston, TX 77005

(713) 348-2281

email: norcross@rice.edu

Education:

Ph.D. in Philosophy, Syracuse University, May 1991.
Dissertation: "Moral Conflicts and Moral Psychology"
Advisor: Jonathan Bennett

M.A. in Philosophy, Syracuse University, Spring 1990

B.A. in Classics (Literature and Philosophy), Christ Church, Oxford University, Summer 1983.

Areas of Research Specialization:

Ethics, Applied Ethics, Political Philosophy

Additional Areas of Teaching Competence:

Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Law, Ancient Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Aesthetics, Feminist Philosophy, Logic, Critical Thinking

Appointments:

2002- Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rice University, Houston, TX

1998-2002 William Edward Easterwood Associate Professor of Philosophy, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX

1999-2000 Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

1992-98 Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX

1990-92 Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva NY

1988-90 Instructor, Philosophy Department, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva NY

Publications:

Anthology:

Killing and Letting Die, 2nd. ed., Fordham University Press, 1994, co-edited with Bonnie Steinbock.

Articles:

“Animal Experimentation”, Oxford Handbook of Bioethics, forthcoming.

“Peacemaking Philosophy or Appeasement? Sterba’s Argument for Compromise.”

International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 19:2, Fall 2005.

“Contextualism for Consequentialists”, Acta Analytica, Vol 20, No. 2, 2005.

“Scalar Act-Utilitarianism”, in Henry R. West (ed.) Blackwell Guide to Mill’s Utilitarianism, 2005.

“Reasons without Demands: Rethinking Rightness”, in James Dreier (ed.) Blackwell Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory, 2005.

“Harming in Context”, Philosophical Studies, Vol 123, Nos 1-2, March 2005.

“Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases.”, Philosophical Perspectives 18, 2004.

“Torturing Puppies and Eating Meat: It’s All in Good Taste”, The Southwest Philosophy Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, January 2004.

Streaming video of me presenting this paper at the APA Central Division meeting in Chicago, 2002.

“Killing and Letting Die”, The Blackwell Companion to Applied Ethics, 2003.

“Contractualism and Aggregation”, Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 28, No. 2, April 2002

"Contractualism and the Ethical Status of Animals", The Southwest Philosophy Review, Vol. 17, No. 1, January 2001.

“Three approaches to the Ethical Status of Animals”, The Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, Occasional Lecture Series, 2000.

“Intransitivity and the Person-Affecting Principle”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol LIX, No. 3; September 1999, pp. 769-776.

"Intending and Foreseeing Death: Potholes on the Road to Hell", The Southwest Philosophy Review, Vol. 15, No. 1, January 1999, pp. 115-123.

“Great Harms from Small Benefits Grow: How Death can be Outweighed by Headaches”, Analysis, April 1998, pp.152-158.

“Speed Limits, Human Lives, and Convenience: A Reply to Ridge”, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 27, No. 1; Winter 1998, pp. 59-64.

“Good and Bad Actions”, The Philosophical Review, Vol 106, No. 1; January 1997, pp. 1-34.

“Consequentialism and Commitment”, The Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 78, No. 4, December 1997, pp. 380-403.

“Comparing Harms: Headaches and Human Lives”, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 26, No. 2; Spring 1997, pp. 135-167.

“Trading Lives for Convenience: It’s not just for Consequentialists”, The Southwest Philosophy Review, Vol. 13, No. 1, January 1997, pp. 29-37.

“Rationality and the Sure-Thing Principle”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 74, No. 2; June 1996, pp. 324-327.

“Rational Roulette”, The Southwest Philosophy Review, Vol. 12, No. 1; January 1996, pp. 191-196.

“Should Utilitarianism Accommodate Moral Dilemmas?”, Philosophical Studies, Vol. 79, No. 1; July 1995, pp. 59-85.

“Rights Violations and Distributive Constraints: Three Scenarios”, The Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 76, no. 2; June 1995, pp. 159-167.

“Introduction to the Second Edition”, Killing and Letting Die, 2nd. Ed., (Fordham 1994) pp. 1-23.

“A Consequentialist Case for Rejecting the Right”, The Journal of Philosophical Research, Vol. 18; 1993, pp. 109-125, co-authored with Frances Howard-Snyder.

“Consequentialism and the Unforeseeable Future”, Analysis, October 1990, pp. 253-56.

“Killing, Abortion and Contraception: A Reply to Marquis”, The Journal of Philosophy, May 1990, pp. 268-77.

“A Reply to Margery Naylor”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, June 1989, pp.715-19.

Work in Progress:

“The Road to Hell”

“Two Dogmas of Deontology: Aggregation, Rights, and the Separateness of Persons”

Book Reviews:

Review of Mary Anne Warren’s Moral Status, Mind, forthcoming.

Conference Presentations:

“Two Dogmas of Deontology: Aggregation, Rights, and the Separateness of Persons”

Presidential Address to the Southwestern Philosophical Society, November 2005

“Feldman on Attitudinal Pleasure and Desert”

Utilitarianism 2005, conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies, August 2005

Comments on Song’s “Cosmopolitan Sovereignty and the Morality of Intervention”

American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting, April 2005

Critique of Sterba’s The Triumph of Practice over Theory in Ethics

American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meeting, March 2005

“Two Approaches to Ethical Contextualism”, Bled Philosophy Conference, June 2004

Comments on “Modified Speciesism: A Brief Look into the Real Problem with our Treatment of Animals”

American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting, April 2004

“Rationality, Moral Status, and Marginal Cases”

American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meeting, March 2004

Mid-South Philosophy Conference, February 2004

“Torturing Puppies and Eating Meat: It’s All in Good Taste”

Southwestern Philosophical Society, November 2003

North Texas Philosophical Association, March 2003

American Philosophical Association, Central Division Meeting, May 2002

Mid-South Philosophy Conference, February 2002

“Harming in Context”

Bellingham Summer Philosophy Conference, August 2003

“Consequentialism and Harm”

Bled Philosophy Conference, June 2003

Comments on “Frankfurt Style Examples”

Southwestern Philosophical Society, November 2002

Comments on "Personal Identity, Autonomy and Advance Directives"

Southwestern Philosophical Society, November 2001

Comments on "Can One Aim at Virtue?"

American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting, May 2001

Comments on “Disability, Marxism and Ecofeminism”

North Texas Philosophical Association, April 2001

Comments on "New Inconsistencies in Infinite Utilitarianism"

American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting, March 2001

"Contractualism and the Ethical Status of Animals"

Southwestern Philosophical Society, November 2000

Comments on "Derivative and Inherited Value"

American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting, April 2000

“Consequentialism and Group Harms”,

Utilitarianism 2000, annual conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies, March 2000

Comments on “Moral Mathematics: Does Participation Matter?”

American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, December 1999

Comments on “Are Hate Crimes Conceptually Distinct From Other Crimes?”

Southwestern Philosophical Society, November 1999

“The Road to Hell”:

Mid-South Philosophy Conference, March 1999.

Southwestern Philosophical Society, October 1998.

26th Conference on Value Inquiry, April 1998.

North Texas Philosophical Association, April 1998 (Presidential Address).

“Great Harms from Small Benefits Grow: How Death can be Outweighed by Headaches”:

Mid-South Philosophy Conference, February/March 1998.

“Trading Lives for Convenience: It’s not just for Consequentialists”:

American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, December 1997.

Mid-South Philosophy Conference, February/March 1997.

Southwestern Philosophical Society, November 1996.

“Intransitivity and the Person-Affecting Principle”:

American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting, April 1997.

Comments on “An Agnostic Defense of Obligatory Prayer”:

Mid-South Philosophy Conference, February/March 1997.

“Reply to Marquis’s ‘The Contraception Problem’”:

American Philosophical Association Eastern Division meeting, December 1996.

“Rational Roulette”:

Southwestern Philosophical Society, November 1995.

“Betrayal, Alienation and Self-Deception”:

23rd Conference on Value Inquiry, April 1995.

“Rights Violations and Distributive Constraints: Three Scenarios”:

American Philosophical Association Pacific Division meeting, April 1995.

“Consequentialism and the Goodness of Actions”:

American Philosophical Association Pacific Division meeting, April 1994.

North Texas Philosophical Association, Spring 1993.

“Why Consequentialism is not a Theory of the Right”, with Frances Howard-Snyder:

American Philosophical Association Eastern Division meeting, 1993.

Comments on “Rawls and the Autonomy of Labor”:

North Texas Philosophical Association, Fall 1992.

“The Incommensurability of Moral Values”:

New York State Philosophical Association, October 1989.

Invited Presentations:

“The Road to Hell”:

The University of Houston, November 2004

Alabama Philosophical Society, Special Session in Honor of James Rachels, October 2004

Dartmouth College, July 2000

SMU Research Symposium, April 1999

SMU Collegium, April 1999

Keynote Speech at the Southwestern Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, April 1998.

SMU Ethics Colloquy, March 1998.

“Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases.”

Rice University Scientia series, September 2005

Keynote speech at the UT San Antonio Philosophy Symposium, November 2003

Syracuse University, October 2003

Texas Tech University, March 2003

“Consequentialism and Group Harms”

Texas Tech University, March 2003

The University at Albany, December 2002

“Uncommon Sense: Controversial Moral Positions You Should Accept”

Keynote speech at the Southwestern Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, March 2003

Acadia University, Nova Scotia, October 2001

"Social Contract Theory and the Ethical Status of Animals"

The Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, Southern Methodist University, Public Scholar Lecture, November 1999

“The Scalar Approach to Morality”:

The University of Connecticut, November 1999

The University of Arizona, Tucson, October 1999

University of Texas at Austin, April 1998.

Rice University, February 1998.

“Trading Lives and Risking Death for Convenience: It’s not just for Consequentialists”.

The University of Dallas, April 1999

“Death, Headaches, and Transitivity: why Consequentialists should stick to their Guns”:

Rice University, November 1997.

“Nonsense on Stilts: What’s Wrong with Rights”:

The Dallas Philosophers’ Forum, November 1997.

“Comparing Harms: Headaches and Human Lives”:

University of Mississippi, April 1996.

Texas A&M University, September 1995.

“Good and Bad Actions”:

University of Houston, March 1995.

University of Arkansas, December 1994.

Texas Tech University, October 1994.

“Betrayal, Alienation and Self-Deception”:

SMU Ethics Colloquy, March 1995.

Texas Tech University, October 1994.

“Sex, Lies and Deception”:

The Dallas Philosophers' Forum, October 1994.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, March 1992.

Awards:

President’s Associates Outstanding Faculty Award, 2001

Ethics Development Grant, 2001

Maguire Teaching Fellowship, 1997

Curriculum Development Grant for Social and Political Philosophy, 1997

Sam Taylor Fellowship, 1994

Invited to participate in NEH Summer Institute on Naturalism, 1993 (declined)

Professional Activity:

Member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Moral Philosophy.

Journal Referee for Ethics, The Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Studies, The Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, The Journal of Philosophical Research, Social Theory and Practice, The Southern Journal of Philosophy.

President of the Southwestern Philosophical Society, (2004-2005)

Vice-President and Program Chair of the Southwestern Philosophical Society, (2003-2004)

President of the North Texas Philosophical Association (1997-8).

Member of the American Philosophical Association.

Foreign Language Reading Competency:

French, Ancient Greek, Latin

Teaching Experience:

Upper Division and Graduate Courses

Seminar on Utilitarianism—Rice University

Seminar on Metaethics—Rice University

Contemporary Ethical Theory–University of Arizona

Doing the Right Thing–Southern Methodist University

Animal Rights–Southern Methodist University and Rice University

Social and Political Philosophy–Southern Methodist University

Philosophy of Law–Southern Methodist University

Topics in Moral Philosophy: Consequentialism–Southern Methodist University and Rice University

Seminar on Consequentialism–Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Ancient Philosophy–Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Early Modern Philosophy-Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Mind and Language–Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Feminist Philosophy—Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Lower Division Courses

Individuals and Society: Personal Morality–University of Arizona

First Year Seminar in Ethics–Southern Methodist University

Contemporary Moral Problems–Southern Methodist University

Business Ethics–Southern Methodist University

Moral Dilemmas–Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Facts and Values–Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Contemporary Issues in Moral Philosophy–Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Introduction to Philosophy–Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Critical Thinking–Hobart and William Smith Colleges

References:

Robert Audi, University of Nebraska at Lincoln

Jonathan Bennett, Syracuse University (retired)

Samuel Gorovitz, Syracuse University

Steven Lee, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Derek Parfit, All Souls College, Oxford

David Schmidtz, University of Arizona

Michael Slote, University of Maryland at College Park

Michael Stocker, Syracuse University

Larry Temkin, Rutgers University