Alastair Norcross
(Seen here declaring an end to major combat
operations in the war on kantianism)
I
arrived in Boulder in August 2007, after serving fifteen years in Texas (with
ten months off for good behavior in the 1999-2000 academic year at the University of Arizona, in
Tucson), first at Southern
Methodist University in Dallas, where I was the Easterwood
Professor of Philosophy from 1992 to 2002, and then at Rice University from
2002 to 2007. Before that, I taught at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in
Geneva, NY, while finishing my Ph.D. at Syracuse University, home of the mighty
Orangemen. Before that, I received my B.A. in Classics from Oxford
University. Before that, you don't want to know about (trust
me). Despite its most strenuous efforts, Texas never managed to break me.
I have never used the expression "y'all" (though I have mentioned it
plenty of times, usually in exasperation). I have never been to a rodeo, worn
cowboy boots, or owned a gun. I have never said, or thought, a good thing about
George W. Bush. I do, however, still miss Ann Richards and Molly Ivins.
My
research, which is primarily in ethical theory, is focused on the articulation
and defense of consequentialist ethical theories such as utilitarianism. I have
published articles in a wide range of philosophy journals, including The Philosophical
Review,The Journal of Philosophy, Philosophy & Public Affairs,
Philosophical Studies, Analysis, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy,
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Social Theory and Practice, and The Pacific
Philosophical Quarterly. I also work in several areas of applied ethics,
such as euthanasia, abortion, and animal rights. I have edited (with Bonnie
Steinbock) an anthology entitled Killing and Letting Die (Fordham: 1994). I am
currently working on a book, in which I argue that consequentialist ethical
theories should not be interpreted as theories of either the rightness or
goodness of actions, but instead as scalar theories that evaluate actions as
better or worse than possible alternatives.
Click
to see a curriculumvitae. (with
links to selected papers: updated sometime 2011)
Fall
2012 Courses:
PHIL
3100 (Ethical Theory) M,W,F 2:00-2:50
PHIL 5100 (Proseminar in
Ethics) T 5:00-7:30
Fall
2012 Office Hours: T 1:00-2:15, W 1-2, and by appointment