Skip to main content
This course is archived
Course date
July 17–25, 2014
Location
Budapest
Application deadline
Course delivery
In-person

Both in philosophy and in everyday life, ethical questions often seem to be particularly difficult to answer: one’s confidence in the truth of one’s own position is often matched by the equal confidence of others with conflicting opinions. In many cases, we eventually seem to have to rely on certain basic intuitions on which we must base our ethical views. But could such basic intuitions be justified, and could we ever resolve disagreements about them?
 
In this course, we will examine important issues related to these themes. We will look at prominent accounts of intuitions and examine how intuitions might justify moral beliefs. We will also examine the idea of wide reflective equilibrium, how it is differentiated from narrow reflective equilibrium, and whether a theory of reflective equilibrium should advert to a prior theory of justified moral intuitions. An important aspect of the course will be to address the relationship between epistemology and metaphysics in ethics. Specific issues discussed in the course will include the relationship between self-evidence of basic moral principles and a priori moral knowledge, whether moral properties can be perceived, the possibility of empirical moral knowledge, the significance of effect and desire in moral epistemology, empirical challenges to moral intuitionism arising from experimental philosophy, and evolutionary debunking arguments against moral realism. Additionally, we will explore the nature of moral testimony and moral expertise: Questions to be discussed include whether or not there are moral experts, and whether or not moral knowledge can be transmitted purely via testimony.
 
This workshop-like course will be highly interactive and discursive, offering seminar discussions as well as opportunities for participants to offer and receive feedback on presentations of their research, and to hold individual discussions with our leading faculty. We welcome applications from post-doctoral researchers, young faculty, and pre-doctoral graduate students from Europe and beyond with research interests in the areas of epistemology, meta-ethics, experimental philosophy, and normative and applied ethics. Applications from highly promising master's students will also be considered.

Completed CEU Summer University Application Form

We strongly advise the use of Google Chrome to enable the full functionality of the form.

Notes:

  • You may apply to a maximum of two summer courses. In case of being admitted, you can only attend both if the two courses do not overlap in time.
  • If you applied to CEU before, please use your existing login and password to start a new application. If you do not remember your password from last year click on Forgotten Password. With technical problems, bugs, or errors related to the online application forms please contact the CEU IT Help Desk.
  • Right after login, please select the ”Summer University” radio button from the "Type of course" list, and leave all other fields empty.
  • All application materials must be submitted with the online application form(s). Materials sent by postal mail, electronic mail, or fax are not considered.
  • The maximum allowable file size for upload is 2MB per file and the acceptable file formats are PDF, JPG, and JPEG. Ensure all security features (e.g. passwords and encryption) are removed from the documents before uploading them.
  • Applications cannot be edited after submission. Please submit your application only when it is 100% final and complete.
  • Further user instructions for the online application are included in the form itself. Should you have questions regarding the application form, check the relevant Frequently Asked Questions.
  • Applications submitted after the deadline will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Inquiries

If you need help or more information during the application process, please feel free to contact the SUN staff via email.

Notification

The SUN Office will notify applicants about the selection results in April. Please check the 'Dates and deadlines' section on the relevant course websites for notification deadlines planned earlier or later. The final decision is not open to appeal.