Seth Lazar, Philosopher and Photographer

2010′s Oxford War Group saw us double in numbers, but retain the same collaborative, collegial atmosphere we enjoyed in 2009. Our focus was on the purposes of military force, with original papers written by myself, Yitzhak Benbaji, Patrick Emerton and Toby Handfield, Cecile Fabre, Chris Kutz, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Jeff McMahan, and Gerhard Øverland. Respondents included Cheyney Ryan, Nancy Sherman, Victor Tadros, Laura Valentini, and James Pattison. The meeting proved the inspiration for an edited volume on national defence (see here for further details).

Kima has been drugged and abandoned at the bottom of a well. She wakes up to see Niko hurtling to-wards her. He was walking alongside the (concealed) well when a powerful gust of wind blew him down it. If Kima does nothing Niko’s body will crush her, but he will survive. Or, she can save herself, using her trusty ray gun to disintegrate his body. Most people think Kima is justified in killing Niko to save herself, even though Niko is quite innocent of the threat he poses. But why? One answer is that killing Niko is an example of eliminative agency—Kima is not benefiting from Niko’s presence, but merely eliminating the threat that he poses. This is easier to justify than manipulative agency, which would involve using Niko’s body to secure a benefit she could not enjoy in his absence. This workshop brought together some of the UK’s leading philosophers of self-defence to discuss the eliminative/manipulative agency distinction, and assess its contribution to the ethics of self-defence.

Participants: myself, Victor Tadros, Helen Frowe, & Gerald Lang. Respondents: postgraduate students & David Rodin & Jon Quong.

This was the first meeting of the Oxford War Group, which I hope will continue to meet annually under the auspices of ELAC and the University of Oxford. Our focus was on Jeff McMahan’s groundbreaking monograph, Killing in War, with new papers written by Yitzhak Benbaji, Tony Coady, Cecile Fabre, John Gardner, Larry May, David Rodin, Cheyney Ryan, and Henry Shue and Janina Dill. Responses were given by postgraduate students and early career academics. The workshop was a great success, and the proceedings are currently under review with a major journal. Besides conceiving of and convening the workshop, my own role was as respondent to Shue and Dill’s paper, and as editor of the subsequent proceedings.