Professor David Oderberg
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+44 (0) 118 378 5277
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Professor
- Head of Department
Areas of interest
- My chief area of research is contemporary metaphysics. I have special interests in moral philosophy, philosophy of religion, and the philosophies of Aristotle and Aquinas.
- My latest book, The Metaphysics of Good and Evil, was published in 2020.
- I am also the author of Opting Out (IEA, 2018), Real Essentialism (Routledge, 2007), Moral Theory (Blackwell, 2000), Applied Ethics (Blackwell, 2000), and The Metaphysics of Identity over Time (Palgrave, 1993).
- In addition, I am: editor of Classifying Reality (Blackwell, 2012); editor of Form and Matter: Themes in Contemporary Metaphysics (Blackwell, 1999); The Old New Logic: Essays on the Philosophy of Fred Sommers (MIT Press, 2005); co-editor of Human Lives: Critical Essays on Consequentialist Bioethics (Palgrave, 1997); and co-editor of Human Values: New Essays on Ethics and Natural Law (Palgrave, 2004).
Postgraduate supervision
- I usually supervise around five PhD students, mainly in my areas of expertise. I am happy to supervise doctoral research students in the following areas: metaphysics, Aristotle, Aquinas, ethics, philosophy of religion.
Teaching
- Modules I teach have included Society and State in Ancient Greece, Metaphysics, and God, Time and Freedom.
Research centres and groups
- I am the editor of Ratio, an international journal of analytic philosophy, and on the editorial boards of Metaphysica and Studia Neo-Aristotelica.
- I am currently Principal Investigator on a major research project entitled ‘Mistakes in Living Systems: A New Conceptual Framework for the Study of Purpose in Biology’, bringing together scientists and philosophers at Reading. It is funded by the John Templeton Foundation.
Background
Publications
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Oderberg, D.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9585-0515
,
Hill, J.
,
Austin, C.
,
Bojak, I.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1765-3502
,
Cinotti, F.
,
Gibbins, J.
ORCID: 0000-0002-0372-5352
(2022)
Biological mistakes: what they are and what they mean for the experimental biologist.
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
ISSN:
1464-3537
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Oderberg, D.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9585-0515
(2022)
Is prime matter energy?.
Australasian Journal of Philosophy
ISSN:
1471-6828
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2021.2010222
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Hill, J.
,
Oderberg, D.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9585-0515
,
Gibbins, J.
ORCID: 0000-0002-0372-5352
,
Bojak, I.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1765-3502
(2022)
Mistake-making: a theoretical framework for generating research questions in biology, with illustrative application to blood clotting.
Quarterly Review of Biology
, 97
(1).
ISSN:
0033-5770
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1086/718736
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Oderberg, D.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9585-0515
(2021)
Restoring the hierarchy of being.
In:
Simpson, W.
,
Koons, R.
,
Orr, J.
, (eds.)
Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Theology of Nature.
Routledge Studies in Metaphysics
Routledge
ISBN:
9780367637149
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Oderberg, D.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9585-0515
(2021)
The order of charity.
Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie
, 4
pp.
337-355.
ISSN:
2522-0071
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s42048-021-00107-6
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Oderberg, D.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9585-0515
(2019)
The Metaphysics of Good and Evil.
Routledge
pp
226.
ISBN:
9780367408640
- Oderberg, D. (2019) How special is medical conscience?. The New Bioethics , 25 (3). pp. 207-220. ISSN: 2050-2885 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20502877.2019.1651078
- Oderberg, D. (2019) On a so-called demonstration of the causal power of absences. Studia Neoaristotelica , 16 (1). pp. 141-148. ISSN: 1804-6843 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.5840/studneoar20191614
- Oderberg, D. (2019) Death, unity and the brain. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics , 40 (5). pp. 359-379. ISSN: 1573-1200 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11017-019-09479-8
- Oderberg, D. (2018) Opting out: conscience and cooperation in a pluralistic society. Institute of Economic Affairs pp. 1-155. ISBN: 9780255367615
- Oderberg, D. (2018) The impossibility of natural necessity. In: Carruth, A. , Gibb, S. , Heil, J. , (eds.) Ontology, Modality, and Mind: Themes from the Metaphysics of E.J. Lowe. Oxford University Press , Oxford. ISBN: 9780198796299
- Oderberg, D. (2018) The great unifier: form and the unity of the organism. In: Simpson, W. , Koons, R. , Teh, N. , (eds.) Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science. Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science Routledge pp. 210-232. ISBN: 9780415792561
- Oderberg, D. (2017) Co-operation in the age of Hobby Lobby: when sincerity is not enough. Expositions: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities , 11 (1). pp. 15-30. ISSN: 1747–5376
- Oderberg, D. (2017) No beginning, no explanation: the kalām cosmological argument and the principle of sufficient reason. In: Copan, P. and Lane Craig, W. , (eds.) The Kalām Cosmological Argument Philosophical Arguments for the Finitude of the Past. , 1. Bloomsbury
- Oderberg, D. (2017) Should there be freedom of dissociation?. Economic Affairs , 37 (2). pp. 167-181. ISSN: 1468-0270 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecaf.12231
- Oderberg, D. (2017) Further clarity on co-operation and morality. Journal of Medical Ethics , 43 (4). pp. 192-200. ISSN: 1473-4257 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2016-103476
- Oderberg, D. (2017) Finality revived: powers and intentionality. Synthese , 194 (7). pp. 2387-2425. ISSN: 1573-0964 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11229-016-1057-5
- Oderberg, D. (2016) Divine premotion. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion , 794 (3). pp. 207-222. ISSN: 1572-8684 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11153-015-9536-z
- Oderberg, D. (2015) Religion and normative ethics. In: Oppy, G. , (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion. Routledge , London. pp. 316-328. ISBN: 9781844658312
- Oderberg, D. (2015) All for the good. Philosophical Investigations , 38 (1-2). pp. 72-95. ISSN: 1467-9205 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/phin.12070
- Oderberg, D. (2014) Is form structure?. In: Novotny, D. and Novak, L. , (eds.) Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives in Metaphysics. Routledge Studies in Metaphysics Routledge , London. pp. 164-180. ISBN: 9780415709392
- Oderberg, D. (2014) The metaphysics of privation. In: Huntelmann, R. and Hattler, J. , (eds.) New Scholasticism Meets Analytic Philosophy. Heusenstamm: Editiones Scholasticae pp. 63-68. ISBN: 9783868385458
- Oderberg, D. (2014) Could there be a superhuman species?. The Southern Journal of Philosophy , 52 (2). pp. 206-226. ISSN: 0038-4283 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12057
- Oderberg, D. (2014) Being and goodness. American Philosophical Quarterly , 51 (4). pp. 345-356. ISSN: 2152-1123
- Oderberg, D. (2011) No potency without actuality: the case of graph theory. In: Tahko, T. , (eds.) Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics. Cambridge University Press pp. 207-228. ISBN: 9781107000643
- Oderberg, D. (2011) The world is not an asymmetric graph. Analysis , 71 (1). pp. 3-10. ISSN: 1467-8284 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/analys/anq115
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Oderberg, D.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9585-0515
(2011)
Essence and properties.
Erkenntnis
, 75
(1).
pp.
85-111.
ISSN:
1572-8420
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10670-011-9276-0
- Oderberg, D. (2010) The metaphysical foundations of natural law. In: Zaborowski, H. , (eds.) Natural moral law in contemporary society. Studies in philosophy and the history of philosophy Catholic University of America Press (53). , Washington DC, USA. pp. 44-75. ISBN: 9780813217864
- Oderberg, D. (2010) Appearance and reality: what Plato can teach journalists and the media. MercatorNet
- Oderberg, D. (2010) 'Whatever is changing is being changed by something else': a reappraisal of premise one of the first way. In: Cottingham, J. and Hacker, P. , (eds.) Mind, method, and morality: essays in honour of Anthony Kenny. Oxford University Press , Oxford, UK. pp. 140-164. ISBN: 9780199556120
- Oderberg, D. (2010) The doctrine of double effect. In: O'Connor, T. and Sandis, C. , (eds.) A companion to the philosophy of action. Blackwell companions to philosophy Wiley-Blackwell , Oxford, UK. pp. 324-330. ISBN: 9781405187350
- Oderberg, D. (2009) Persistence. In: Kim, J. , Sosa, E. , Rosenkrantz, G. , (eds.) A companion to metaphysics. 2nd edition. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy Blackwell , Oxford. pp. 55-65. ISBN: 9781405152983 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/b.9781405152983.2009.x
- Oderberg, D. (2009) The non-identity of the categorical and the dispositional. Analysis , 69 (4). pp. 677-684. ISSN: 1467-8284 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/analys/anp098
- Oderberg, D. (2008) Teleology: inorganic and organic. In: Gonzalez, A. , (eds.) Contemporary perspectives on natural law. Ashgate , Aldershot. pp. 259-279. ISBN: 9780754660545
- Oderberg, D. (2008) Self-love, love of neighbour and impartiality. In: Athanassoulis, N. and Vice, S. , (eds.) The moral life: essays in honour of John Cottingham. Palgrave Macmillan , London. pp. 58-84. ISBN: 9780230527560
- Oderberg, D. (2008) Concepts, dualism, and the human intellect. In: Antonietti, A. , Corradini, A. , Lowe, E. , (eds.) Psycho-physical dualism today: an interdisciplinary approach. Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield Group) , Lanham, MD. pp. 211-233. ISBN: 9780739123843
- Oderberg, D. (2008) The metaphysical status of the embryo: some arguments revisited. Journal of Applied Philosophy , 25 (4). pp. 263-276. ISSN: 0264-3758 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5930.2008.00421.x
- Oderberg, D. (2007) The cosmological argument. In: Meister, C. and Copan, P. , (eds.) The Routledge companion to philosophy of religion. Routledge , London. pp. 341-50. ISBN: 9780415380386
- Oderberg, D. (2007) Real Essentialism. Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy Routledge , London. pp 314. ISBN: 9780415872126
- Oderberg, D. (2006) Review: George Klosko, Jacobins and Utopians. University of Notre Dame Press, 2003. Philosophy , 81 (4). pp. 690-694. ISSN: 1469-817X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0031819106318104
- Oderberg, D. (2006) Instantaneous change without instants. In: Paterson, C. and Pugh, M. , (eds.) Analytical Thomism: traditions in dialogue. Ashgate , Aldershot. pp. 101-118. ISBN: 9780754634386
- Oderberg, D. and Laing, J. (2005) Artificial reproduction, the 'welfare principle', and the common good. Medical Law Review , 13 (3). pp. 328-356. ISSN: 0967-0742 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwi022
- Oderberg, D. , eds. (2005) The old new logic: essays on the philosophy of Fred Sommers. MIT Press , Cambridge, MA. pp 254. ISBN: 9780262651066
- Oderberg, D. (2005) Hylemporhic dualism. In: Paul, E. and Miller, F. , (eds.) Personal identity. Cambridge University Press , Cambridge. pp. 70-99. ISBN: 9780521617673
- Oderberg, D. (2005) Towards a natural law critique of genetic engineering. In: Athanassoulis, N. , (eds.) Philosophical reflections on medical ethics. Palgrave Macmillan , Basingstoke. pp. 109-134. ISBN: 9781403945273
- Oderberg, D. (2005) Predicate logic and bare particulars. In: Oderberg, D. , (eds.) The old new logic: essays on the philosophy of Fred Sommers. MIT Press , Cambridge, MA. pp. 183-210. ISBN: 9780262651066
- Oderberg, D. (2004) The structure and content of the good. In: Oderberg, D. and Chappell, T. , (eds.) Human values: new essays on ethics and natural law. 1st edition. Palgrave Macmillan , Basingstoke, UK. pp. 127-165. ISBN: 9781403918109
- Oderberg, D. (2004) Temporal parts and the possibility of change. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research , 69 (3). pp. 686-708. ISSN: 1933-1592 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2004.tb00523.x
- Oderberg, D. (2004) The ethics of co-operation in wrongdoing. In: O'Hear, . , (eds.) Modern moral philosophy. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement Cambridge University Press (54). , Cambridge, UK. pp. 203-227. ISBN: 9780521603263 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1358246100008511
- Oderberg, D. (2004) Perennial philosophy's theory of art. Quadrant (Jan-Feb 20). pp. 68-74. ISSN: 0033-5002
- Oderberg, D. and Chappell, . , eds. (2004) Human values: new essays on ethics and natural law. 1st edition. Palgrave Macmillan , Basingstoke, UK. ISBN: 9781403918109
- Oderberg, D. (2003) The beginning of existence. International Philosophical Quarterly , 43 (2). pp. 145-157. ISSN: 2153-8077
- Oderberg, D. (2003) Why I am a Relativist. Quadrant pp. 38-43.
- Oderberg, D. (2003) Review of 'Causing actions' by P. Pietroski . Philosophy , 78 pp. 128-132. ISSN: 1469-817X
- Oderberg, D. (2003) Review of 'Paradoxes from A to Z' by M. Clark. Times Higher Education Supplement ISSN: 0049-3929
- Oderberg, D. (2003) Review of 'Summulae de dialectica' by J. Buridan, edited by G. Klima. Times Literary Supplement pp. 9. ISSN: 0307-661X