User:Uehiro/Roger Crisp

Roger Stephen Crisp is Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St. Anne’s College, Oxford. He holds the university posts of Professor of Moral Philosophy and Uehiro Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy. His work falls principally within the field of ethics, in particular metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. In addition, he is Chairman of the Management Committee of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.

Crisp began his higher education at St. Anne’s College, Oxford, in 1979, where he read Literae Humaniores. He was amongst the first male cohort to study at this previously all-female college. He was taught by, amongst others, Margaret Howatson, Margaret Hubbard, Gwynneth Matthews, Barbara Mitchell, and Peter Derow. In 1983 he commenced the B.Phil, and from 1985 until 1988 he worked on his D.Phil, writing his thesis on utilitarianism.

In 1986 Crisp began his first academic post, as a junior lecturer in philosophy at Magdalen College, Oxford; he returned to St. Anne’s for two years beginning 1987 as a lecturer in philosophy, before taking up a lecturing post at Hertford College, Oxford 1988-1989. 1989-1991 saw Crisp move to University College, Oxford, as a British Academy Research Fellow and Honorary Junior Research Fellow. Finally, Crisp returned once more to St. Anne’s in 1991, to take up a permanent post as Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy. For the first time in his career, Crisp is leaving Oxford and spending the academic year 2010-2011 at Boston University to explore his interests on Henry Sidgwick.

Arguably Crisp’s most major work to date has been Reasons and the Good (Clarendon Press, 2006), in which he advances some novel approaches to the oldest questions in ethics. The central claim of this work is that a fundamental issue in normative ethics is what ultimate reasons might underlie our actions; Crisp argues that the best exposition of such reasons will not employ moral concepts. So far, Reasons and the Good has generally been very well-received.

Crisp is currently editing an Oxford Handbook on the History of Ethics. Other major works include a translation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2000), and the Routledge Guidebook to Mill on Utilitarianism (Routledge, 1997).

Crisp has a wife and two daughters. Aside from his work, his interests include bluegrass guitar and wine tasting.

Select Publications
Books:

Reasons and the Good (Clarendon Press, 2006)

Articles:

1.‘Hume on Virtue, Utility, and Morality’, in S. Gardiner (ed.), Virtue Ethics, Old and New: 159-78, 2005.

2.‘Values, Reasons, and the Structure of Justification: How to Avoid Passing the Buck’, Analysis 65.285: 80-85, 2005.

3.‘How to Allocate Health Care Resources: QALYs or the Virtues?’ [in Japanese], Journal of Death and Life Studies 6: 147-56, 2005.

4.‘Aristotle on Greatness of Soul’, in R. Kraut (ed.), Blackwell Guide to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics: 158-78, 2006.

This is a selection of Crisp's recent publications. For an exhaustive list download the PDF file on his page on the Oxford University Philosophy Faculty website.