Hedonism FTW

I've just uploaded a new paper (and submitted it to a journal): The Epistemic Argument for Universal Hedonism. This one is pretty action-packed. First I give an account of moral judgment. Then I present an argument that pushes us towards global skepticism about morality. Then I save us from global moral skepticism by arguing that despite the big skeptical argument, we can know about the goodness of pleasure through phenomenal introspection. Then there's a part at the end where I clean up some stuff about how to go from the epistemic stuff to the metaphysical and moral conclusions. This is supposed to be the first and biggest step in the big argument for hedonic utilitarianism.

I gave this paper at a bunch of places this summer -- Arizona, Tennessee, Illinois State, and King's College London -- and people gave me great feedback everywhere. Thanks, folks!

Pulau Ubin

I went to Ubin yesterday! It's an island a ten minute boat ride from Singapore. Attractions included a wild boar and a mangrove swamp.

Depicted with me are super philosophy undergraduates Zi Wei and Ming De, as well as super philosophy colleague Ben Blumson. I'll be visiting Ben's native Australia in December, as well as New Zealand. I've heard that there is plenty of awesome nature down there, and I look forward to seeing it.

By the way, if you'd like me to give a talk at your department in Australia, let me know! NUS has given me a big grant that I'm supposed to use for exactly that purpose, and I'm told that I put on a good show.

Kanye West bum-rushes the history of philosophy

Via.