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Welcome to the webpage of Alan Thomas. I am a philosopher at the University of York located in the UK. I publish in several areas of philosophy, but primarily in the fields of moral philosophy and political philosophy. My current cv is here.

I am married to the art historian Kathryn Brown whose web page can be viewed here or here.

Here are some links to my Google Scholar profile, my wikipedia page, my University home page, and to my Linkedin profile.

This page is a list, in chronological order, of my primary publications in philosophy. In most cases I include a link from which you can download a pdf of the paper. You can also follow this link to my blog.

Books

Forthcoming: Ethics in the First Person. Ms currently out for review.

[2024] with Alfred Archer and Bart Engelen Extravagance and Misery: the Emotional Regime of Market Societies, Oxford University Press.

[2024] The Ethical Philosophy of Bernard Williams, Cambridge University Press.

[2017] Republic of Equals: Predistribution and Property-Owning Democracy, Oxford University Press.

Links to reviews here and here.

[2009] Thomas Nagel, Routledge.

[2009] Editor and contributor, Bernard Williams, Cambridge University Press (multi-author volume).

[2006] Value and Context: the Nature of Moral and Political Knowledge, the Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press. Download the pdf here.

Book Chapters and Journal Papers.

[forthcoming] with Hannah Carnegy-Arbuthnott ‘Nozick’s Socialism: the “Shadow” of the Lockean Proviso’ for a special issue of Cosmos & Taxis.

[2024] ‘Virtue, Authenticity and Irony’ special issue of Topoi on the philosophy of Bernard Williams, (eds.) Susanna Cadillha & Ana Falcao. Open Access: download from the linked title or download the pdf here.

[2024] with Alfred Archer and Bart Engelen (as second author) “The Shame of Living in Poverty in Capitalist Societies’ in Leonie Smith and Alfred Archer (eds) Poverty and Moral Psychology

[2023] ‘From Pluralistic Normative Principles to Autonomous Agent Rules‘, Beverly Townsend, Colin Paterson, Arvind Thuruvallore Thattai, Gabriel Nemirovsky, Radu Calinescu, Ana Cavalcanti, Alan Thomas, Minds & Machines, vol.32, pp.638–715. Open Access: download the pdf here.

[2022] with Alfred Archer and Bart Engelen (as second author) ‘The Politics of Envy: Outlaw Emotions in Capitalist Societies’, in the Moral Psychology of Envy, edited by Sara Protasi, Bloomsbury.

[2022] ‘Property-Owning Democracy’ in the Routledge Handbook of PPE, edited by Chris Melenovsky, Routledge.

[2021] ‘Market Socialism, Labour Market Domination, and the State as Employer of Last Resort’, Review of Social Economy, vol.79, issue 3, pp.528–553. Download the pdf here.

[2020] ‘Freeman on Property-Owning Democracy’, Philosophy and Public Issues, ed. Ingrid Salvatore, vol.20, no.1. Download the pdf here.

[2020] ‘Unconditional Basic Income and the Keynesian Critique of Rentier Capitalism’, Basic Income Studies, volume.15, no.1. Download the pdf here.

[2020] ‘Rawls on Economic Liberty and the Choice of “Systems of Social Co-operation”‘ in Sarah Roberts-Cady and John Mandle (Des) John Rawls: Debating the Major Questions, Oxford University Press.

[2019] ‘Edmundson on Neo-Liberalism: Towards a “Left-Rawlsian” Political Economy’, Ethical Perspectives, vol.26, no.2, pp.352–358.

[2019] ‘Does Epistemic Injustice Involve “Corrective” Virtue?’ in Mark LeBar (ed) Becoming Virtuous, Oxford University Press. Download the pdf here.

[2019] ‘How Moral Exemplars Can Ruin Your Life: the Case of Conrad’s Lord Jim’, with Alfred Archer and Bart Engelen (as first author) in Alfred Archer and A. Grahle (Des) The Moral Psychology of Admiration, Rowman & Littlefield.

[2018] ‘Exemplars and Nudges: Combining Two Strategies for Moral Education’ with Alfred Archer and Bart Engelen (as second author) Journal of Moral Education, online, January 8. Download the pdf here.

[2018] ‘The Demands of Democratic Ownership’, Analyse & Kritik, vol.392, issue 2, pp.413–416. Download the pdf here.

[2018] ‘Intelligibility All the Way Down: Nagel on Mind and Cosmos’, Klēsis Revue philosophique, no. 41. Download the pdf here.

[2015] ‘Integrity, Ground Projects and Reasons to be Moral’ in Beatrix Himmelman and Burt Louden (eds.) Why Be Moral? De Gruyter, pp.249–271. Download the pdf here.

[2015] ‘Rawls and Political Realism: Realistic Utopianism or Judgement in Bad Faith?’, European Journal of Political Theory, vol.16, issue 3. Download the pdf here.

[2015] ‘Prerogatives, Incentives and Institutionalism: a Reply to Berkey’, Mind, vol.124, issue 485, July. Download the pdf here.

[2014] ‘Should Generalism Be Our Regulative Ideal?’, in T. D. C. Chappell (ed) Intuition and Anti-Theory in Ethics, Oxford University Press. Download the pdf here.

[2014] ‘McDowell on Transcendental Arguments, Scepticism and Error Theory’, International Journal for the Study of Scepticism, vol 4, pp.109–124. Download the pdf here.

[2013] ‘Sen on Rawls’s “Transcendental Institutionalism”: An Analysis and Critique’, European Journal of Political Theory, vol.13, no.3, pp.241–263. Download the pdf here.

[2013] with Edward Harcourt ‘Thick Concepts and Expressivist Analysis’ in Simon Kirchin (ed) Thick Concepts, Oxford University Press. Download the pdf here.

[2012] ‘Rawls, Adam Smith, and an Argument From Complexity to Property-Owning Democracy’, The Good Society.

[2012] ‘Giving Each Person Her Due: Taurek Cases and Non-Comparative Justice’, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol.15, issue 5, pp.661–676. Download the pdf here.

[2012] ‘Liberalism, Republicanism and the Idea of an Egalitarian Ethos’, in Martin O’Neill and Thad Williamson (eds) Rawls on Property-Owning Democracy, Blackwell-Wiley.

[2012] ‘Nietzsche and Moral Fictionalism’ in S . J. Robertson (ed) Nietzsche, Naturalism and Normativity, Oxford University Press.

[2011] ‘Cohen’s Critique of Rawls: a Double Counting Objection’, Mind, November. Download the pdf here.

[2011] ‘Virtue Ethics and an Ethics of Care’, Eidos. Download the pdf here.

[2010] ‘Another Particularism: Reason, Status and Defaults’, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 14, no. 2, pp.151–167. Download the pdf here.

[2010] ‘Alienation, Objectivity and the Primacy of Virtue’, in Jonathan Webber (ed) Reading Sartre, Routledge. Download the pdf here.

[2009] ‘Consequentialism, Integrity and Demandingess’, in T . D. C. Chappell (ed) The Problem of Moral Demandingness, Palgrave-Macmillan.

[2009] ‘Perceptual Presence and the Productive Imagination’ in Perceptual Intentionality: Themes from Sellars and McDowell, a special issue of Philosophical Topics. Download the pdf here.

[2008] ‘The Genealogy of Epistemic Virtue Concepts’, in the special issue Epistemology Through Thick and Thin, Philosophical Papers, vol.37, no.3, pp.345–369. Download the pdf here.

[2007] ‘Practical Irrationality, Reflexivity and Sartre’s Regress Argument’, Teorema, XXIV/3 October.

[2007] ‘Practical Reasoning and Normative Relevance’, Journal of Moral Philosophy, vol.4, no.1, April. Download the pdf here.

[2007] ‘Non-Objectivism and the Critique of Moral Knowledge’, in Alan Thomas (ed) Bernard Williams, Cambridge University Press.

[2005]’The Permissibility of Prerogative Grounded Incentives in Liberal Egalitarianism’, ‘Straight to the Point’, Ethics and Economics.

[2004] ‘Reasonable Partiality and the Agent’s Point of View’, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 8, nos 1-2, April, pp. 25-43. Download the pdf here.

[2003] ‘Nagel’s Paradox of Equality and Partiality’, Res Publica, 2003, 9 (3), pp. 257-284. Download the pdf here.

[2003] ‘An Adverbial Theory of Consciousness’, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, vol. 2, no. 3 pp. 161-185. Download the pdf here.

[2002] ‘Internal Reasons and Contractualist Impartiality’, Utilitas, vol. 14, number 2 July pp. 135-154. Download the pdf here.

[2000] ‘Consequentialism and the Subversion of Pluralism’ in Brad Hooker, Elinor Mason and Dale Miller (eds) Morality, Rules and Consequences, Edinburgh U.P.

[1999] ‘Values, Secondary Qualities and the Challenge of Non-Objectivism’ in P. Kampits and A. Weinberg (eds.) Proceedings of the International Wittgenstein Symposium, Holder-Pichler-Tempsky, Vienna.

[1998]’Remorse and Reparation’ in Murray Cox, (ed) Remorse and Reparation, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

[1997] ‘Kant, McDowell and the Theory of Consciousness’ European Journal of Philosophy, (December) pp. 283-305. Download the pdf here.

[1997] ‘Minimalism versus Quasi-Realism: Why the Minimalist has a Dialectical Advantage’, Philosophical Papers, November, pp.233–239. Download the pdf here.

[1997] ‘Liberal Republicanism and Role of Civil Society’, Democratisation, (August) pp.26–44.

[1996] ‘Values, Reasons and Perspectives’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 1996–7. Download the pdf here.

Unpublished Pre-Print

[2023] ‘Is the Democratisation of Central Banking a Technocratic Problem?’ Preprint at SSRN here.

Selected Seminar Papers

[2013] ‘High on the Hog: What is Higher Order in the Higher Order Global States Theory of Consciousness?’, seminar presentation, Antwerp, October 7. Download the pdf here.