Academic Freedom Podcast #11 on SUNY and Moral Philosophy

A conversation with Oxford University's Jeff McMahan on asking difficult questions in moral philosophy

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This is a special episode recorded over the weekend with Oxford University Professor Jeff McMahan. McMahan is a leading philosopher of practical ethics and has written and taught on a wide range of controversial topics. I asked him to give us some context for thinking about the current controversy at SUNY Fredonia.

The trouble at SUNY Fredonia arises out of the appearance of moral philosopher Stephen Kershnar on the video podcast Brain in a Vat to discuss his academic work on the law and morality of pedophilia and more broadly on "sexual taboos." Kershnar is currently barred from campus and prohibited from making contact with his students while the university contemplates his future status at the university. Kershnar's case is reminiscent of that of Allyn Walker at Old Dominion University in the fall. Walker was a sociologist who studied, among other things, adults who were sexually attracted to minors. After discussing that scholarship on a different video podcast, Walker was barred from campus and soon permanently separated from the university.

In the podcast, McMahan and I discuss what professors engaged in moral philosophy do and why they do it, how he thinks about whether any topics are off-limits, and what the benefit might be to raising questions about widely held moral assumptions. Kershnar is hardly alone among moral philosophers in being denounced for work that some find discomforting or hurtful, and his case might inform how moral philosophers think about doing their work in the future.

Listen to the whole thing here.

Comments

[LawTalkingGuy]

It seems like the dude is just a giant troll, taking outrageous positions on every conceivable subject. Of course maybe that’s his point. But then again…you’re subject to Popehat’s rule of goats when the irony doesn’t really matter in the end.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Here is some smashing good moral philosophy.

[DaivdBehar]

When will the scumbag lawyer known as Artie do the right thing and resign? He needs to be replaced by a diverse.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Prof. Volokh is way ahead of you. He banned Artie Ray years ago, for making fun of conservatives a bit too deftly for the professor's partisan, hypocritical tastes.

[DWB]

Sounds like he cruises for elementary kids ... though college kids do act like they are six sometimes so I understand the confusion.

[QuantumBoxCat]

A podcast episode devoted to discussing the moral ethics of a controversy arising from a podcast episode discussing the moral ethics of sex.

Bro....I am too high for this.

[Noscitur a sociis]

I don't think Prof. Kershnar deserves to be fired or otherwise sanctioned for arguing that there is nothing morally wrong with sexually abusing one year olds. But I certainly think those of us within and outside the Fredonia community are well within our rights to denounce him for it. Ditto with respect to his expressed opinions on sexism, torture, and Josh Blackman's interpretation of the emoluments clause.

[Social Justice is neither]

Wow, more left wing academics advocating the pro-pedophilia stance. Gotta give it to them, they don't believe in leaving any pillar of society standing in their destruction of society.