Professor Nicholas Southwood
PhD, BA (Hons)
Professor (Level E)
College of Arts and Social Sciences
Areas of expertise
- Political Theory And Political Philosophy 160609
- Ethical Theory 220305
Biography
Nicholas Southwood is Head of School and ARC Future Fellow in the School of Philosophy in the Research School of Social Sciences of the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He is also Co-Editor of The Journal of Political Philosophy. His work is primarily in moral and political philosophy but also engages with related issues in epistemology, philosophy of law and philosophy of social science. He is author of two published monographs, Contractualism and the Foundations of Morality (OUP, 2010) and Explaining Norms (OUP, 2014), a third mongoraph, Feasibility: On What Is Possible In Politics (under contract with OUP), and many articles in journals including Ethics, Mind, Noûs, Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and Philosophy & Public Affairs. His current research is primarily focused on the nature and proper role of feasibility in politics.
Researcher's projects
- 2017-2021: ARC Future Fellowship. FT160100409: Feasibility in politics: Taking account of groups and institutions. Dr N Southwood. $733,992
- 2014-2019: ARC Discovery Project. DP140102468: The demands of reason. Dr N Southwood; Prof P Pettit; Dr V McGeer; Prof J Broome. $166,000
- 2012-2016: ARC Discovery Project. DP120101507: Political normativity and the feasibility requirement. Dr N Southwood; Prof G Brennan; Prof D Estlund. $408,587
Current student projects
Current PhD Students Supervised ("*" designates Chair)
- Hugh Barrett* (PhD, in progress)
- Nicholas Drake* (PhD, in progress)
- Josef Holden (PhD, in progress)
- Chris Lernpass (PhD, in progress)
- James Lim (PhD, in progress)
- Oliver Rawle (PhD, in progress)
- Patrick Williamson (MPhil, in progress)
- James Willoughby (PhD, in progress)
Past student projects
Past PhD Students Supervised ("*" designates Chair)
- Daniel Friedrich (2008)
- Holly Lawford-Smith (2010)
- Jonathan Herington (2012)
- Jan Burgers (2013)
- Stephanie Collins* (2014)
- Adam Gastineau (2015)
- Matthew Hammerton (2016)
- Lucie White (2017)
- Ryan Cox (2017)
- Jessica Isserow (2017)
- Lachlan Umbers* (2018)
- Adam Bugeja* (2018)
- Susan Pennings (2020)
- Jesse Hambly* (2020)
- Ten-herng Lai* (2020)
Publications
- Southwood, N 2022, 'Feasibility as Deliberation-Worthiness', Philosophy and Public Affairs, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 121-162.
- Lindauer, M & Southwood, N 2021, 'HOW TO CANCEL THE KNOBE EFFECT: THE ROLE OF SUFFICIENTLY STRONG MORAL CENSURE', American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 181-186.
- Southwood, N 2021, 'The possibility of wildly unrealistic justice and the principle/proposal distinction', Philosophical Studies, vol. 178, no. -, pp. 2403-2423.
- Southwood, N & Goodin, R 2021, 'Infeasibility as a normative argument-stopper: The case of open borders', European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 965-987.
- Southwood, N 2019, 'Laws as Conventional Norms', in David Plunkett, Scott J Shapiro and Kevin Toh (ed.), Dimensions of Normativity New Essays on Metaethics and Jurisprudence, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom, pp. 22-44.
- Southwood, N 2019, 'Contractualism for Us As We Are', Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 99, no. 3, pp. 529-547.
- Southwood, N 2019, 'Contractualism and Radical Pluralism', Journal of Moral Philosophy, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 225-238.
- Southwood, N 2019, 'Feasibility as a Constraint on 'Ought All-Things-Considered', But not on 'Ought as a Matter of Justice'?', The Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 69, no. 276, pp. 598-616.
- Southwood, N 2019, 'The Question of Practical Reason', in M Balcerak Jackson & B Balcerak Jackson (ed.), Reasoning: New Essays on Theoretical and Practical Thinking, Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, pp. 71pp-91pp.
- Southwood, N 2018, 'Constructivism and the normativity of practical reason', in Karen Jones and François Schroeter (ed.), The Many Moral Rationalisms, Oxford Scholarship Online, UK, pp. 91-109.
- Southwood, N 2018, 'Feasibility and social justice [Faisabilite et justice sociale]', in Patrick Savidan (ed.), Dictionnaire des inegalites et de la justice sociale (Handbook of Inequality and Social Justice), Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, pp. 557-566.
- Southwood, N 2018, 'The feasibility issue', Philosophy Compass, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 13pp.
- Southwood, N. 2018. Laws as conventional norms in Dimensions of Normativity, ed. D. Plunkett, S. Shapiro and K. Toh, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Southwood N 2018, Constructivism about reasons. The Oxford Handbook of Reasons and Normativity, ed. D. Star. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Barry, C & Southwood, N 2017, The Limits of the Australian Solution - Global Brief, pp. 1pp-6pp.
- Brennan, G, Eriksson, L, Goodin, R and N Southwood, 2016 Explaining Norms, Oxford: Oxford University Press (paperback).
- Southwood, N & Wiens, D 2016, '"Actual" does not imply "feasible"', Philosophical Studies, 173, 3037-3060.
- Southwood, N 2016, '"The Thing To Do" Implies "Can"', Nous, 50, 61-72.
- Southwood, N 2016, 'Does "Ought" Imply "Feasible"', Philosophy and Public Affairs, 44, 7-45.
- Southwood, N 2016, 'The motivation question', Philosophical Studies, 173, 3413-3430.
- Southwood, N and P Gilbert 2016, 'Ability and Volitional Incapacity', Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 10.
- Southwood, N 2015, 'Democracy as a Modally Demanding Value', Nous, 47, 504-21.
- Southwood, N 2015, 'Republican justice', Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 18, 669-678.
- Southwood, N 2015, 'The Relevance of Human Nature', Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 9, 1-8.
- Southwood, N 2013, ''Moral Contractualism' in Oxford Bibliographies in Philosophy', in Luanna H Meyer (ed.), Oxford Bibliographies Online, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 1-14pp.
- Brennan, G, L Eriksson, G Brennan and N Southwood. 2013. Explaining Norms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Southwood, N, 2013, Contractualism and the Foundations of Morality, Oxford: Oxford University Press (paperback).
- Southwood, N 2011, 'The Moral/Conventional Distinction', Mind: a quarterly review of philosophy, vol. 120, no. 479, pp. 761-802.
- Barry C and Southwood N 2011, 'What is Special About Human Rights?', Ethics and International Affairs, vol. 25, pp. 1-15.
- Southwood N and Eriksson L 2011, 'Norms and Conventions', Philosophical Explorations, vol. 14, pp. 195-217.
- Friedrich D and Southwood N 2011, 'Promises and Trust', Promises and Agreement: Philosophical Essays, ed. H. Sheinman. Oxford University Press, pp. 275-92.
- Southwood, N 2010, Contractualism and the Foundations of Morality, Oxford, Oxford University Press
- Baurmann, M, Brennan, H, Goodin, R and Southwood, N eds, 2010, Norms and Values, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Germany.
- Southwood N 2010, 'The Authority of Social Norms', New Waves in Meta-Ethics, ed. M. Brady, Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke, pp. 234-48.
- Southwood N, 2010, 'Norms, Laws, and Social Authority', Norms and Values, ed. M. Baurmann, G. Brennan, R.E. Goodin, & N. Southwood. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Germany, pp. 75-91.
- Chuard, P & Southwood, N 2009, 'Epistemic Norms without Voluntary Control', Nous, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 599-632.
- Southwood N and Friedrich D 2009, 'Promises Beyond Assurance', Philosophical Studies, vol. 144, pp. 261-80.
- Southwood, N 2009, 'Moral Contractualism', Philosophy Compass, vol 4, pp. 926-37.
- Verbeek B and Southwood N eds, 2009, Practical Reasoning and Normativity, special issue of Philosophical Explorations, vol. 12, 2009.
- Southwood, N 2008, 'A Deliberative Model of Contractualism', Politics, Philosophy and Economics, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 183-208.
- Southwood, N 2008, 'Vindicating the Normativity of Rationality', Ethics: an International journal of social, political and legal philosophy, vol. 119, no. 1, pp. 9-30.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- Feasibility in Politics: Taking Account of Groups and Institutions (Primary Investigator)
- The Demands of Reason (Primary Investigator)
- Political Normativity and the Feasibility Requirement (Primary Investigator)
