NICHOLAS SMYTH

Email: nick.a.smyth@gmail.com
Tel: (+1) 443-966-2616
Website: http://nicksmyth.net

EMPLOYMENT

2018 - Present, Fordham University: Postdoctoral Lecturer.

2017 - 18, Simon Fraser University: Postdoctoral Researcher and Term Lecturer in Philosophy.

EDUCATION

Brown University, PhD (Philosophy), 2017

Dissertation: “Making Sense of Moral Progress”
Committee: Bernard Reginster, Jamie Dreier, Joshua Schechter, Philip Kitcher
Simon Fraser University, MA (Philosophy) 2010
University of British Columbia, Qualifying Year (Philosophy) 2005-2006
Carleton University, BA (Highest Honors, Political Science) 2003

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Areas of Specialization: Normative Ethics, Meta-Ethics, History of Ethics, Moral Psychology

Areas of Competence: Social and Political Philosophy, Applied Ethics, Epistemology

PUBLICATIONS

“Moral Disagreement and Non-Moral Ignorance” Synthese (forthcoming)

"Bernard Williams”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, with Sophie Grace-Chappell (2018)
“Integration and Authority: Rescuing the One Thought Too Many Problem”, Canadian Journal of
Philosophy (2018)
“Moral Knowledge and the Genealogy of Error”, The Journal of Value Inquiry (2017)
“The Function of Morality”, Philosophical Studies (2016)
“Resolute Expressivism”, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2015)
“The Inevitability of Inauthenticity” (Forthcoming in Ethics beyond the Limits: New Essays on Bernard
Williams’ Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Routledge Publishing)

PAPERS UNDER REVIEW

“What is the Question to which Anti-Natalism is the Answer?”

“Sentimentalism and Structural Injustice”

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“Gender and Theory-Acceptance in Ethics”
“Against Psychological Debunking”

REFEREED PRESENTATIONS

“Gender and Theory-Acceptance in Ethics”; Meeting of the Pacific Division of the American
Philosophical Association, San Diego, USA; April, 2018
“Moral Disagreement and Non-Moral Ignorance”; Meeting of the Central Division of the American
Philosophical Association, Chicago, USA; February, 2018
“The Function of Morality”; Meeting of the British Society for Ethical Theory, Southampton, UK;
July 14, 2015
“The Inevitability of Inauthenticity: Williams on Practical Alienation”; 30 Years of Bernard Williams’
Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy Conference; Oxford University, Oxford, UK; July 5, 2015
“Objectivism Debunked?”; Meeting of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical
Association; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; April 2, 2015:
“The Function of Morality”; Northwestern University Society for the Theory of Ethics and Politics
(NUSTEP), 8th Annual Conference; Evanston, IL, USA; March 13, 2014
“Resolute Expressivism”; Meeting of the British Society for Ethical Theory; London, UK; July 16,
2013
“Resolute Expressivism”; North Carolina Philosophical Society; Greenville, NC, USA; February 15,
2013
“Socrates and Thick Ethical Concepts”; Meeting of the Eastern Division of the American
Philosophical Association; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; December 30, 2013
“Ethical Thought After Situationism”; Paris Conference on Character and Personality; Sorbonne,
Paris, France; July 4, 2012
“P. F. Strawson’s Primitivist Foundationalism”; Society for the Study of the History of Analytical
Philosophy; McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; May 24, 2012:
“Bernard Williams, Ground Projects and the Possibility of Human Agency”; Conference on
Freedom and Responsibility; New School for Social Research, New York, NY, USA; April 27, 2012
“Ethical Thought After Situationism”; Ohio Philosophical Association Meeting; Cleveland State
University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Mar 31, 2012
“Ethical Thought After Situationism”; Arizona Graduate Conference in Philosophy; University of
Arizona, Tuscon, AZ, USA; March 2, 2012
“Bernard Williams, Ground Projects and the Possibility of Human Agency”; USC/UCLA Graduate
Conference in Philosophy; University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Feb 18, 2012

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TEACHING

Primary Instructor

Fordham University
Philosophy 3000: Philosophical Ethics (3 sections), Fall 2018

Simon Fraser University

Philosophy 322: Hume, Smith and Kant, Summer 2018
Philosophy 321: Feminist Ethics of Care, Spring 2018
Philosophy 822: Selected Topics in Normative Ethics, Spring 2018
Philosophy 854/421: Social and Political Philosophy, Fall 2017

Brown University
Philosophy 0220: Introduction to Philosophy, Fall 2014

Teaching Assistant

Brown University
Global Justice (David Estlund), Spring 2017
Epistemology (Felicia Nimue Ackerman), Fall 2016
The Nature of Morality (Jamie Dreier), Spring 2015
The Philosophy of Happiness (Bernard Reginster), co-supervisor of student-lead seminar, Spring
2014
Political Philosophy (David Estlund), Teaching Assistant, Fall 2013
Ethics and the Novel (Felicia Ackerman), Spring 2013
Existentialism (Bernard Reginster), Fall 2012
Psychoanalysis (Bernard Reginster), Fall 2011

Simon Fraser University

Introduction to Ethical Philosophy (Sam Black and Evan Tiffany), Assistant, Spring 2007, Fall
2007, Fall 2008, Summer 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010
Personal Identity (Evan Tiffany), Spring 2009
Philosophy and Film (Evan Tiffany), Spring 2008
Knowledge and Reality (Jill McIntosh), Fall 2006

DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE/SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION

Organizer, Ways of Knowing in Ethics (2-day workshop at Simon Fraser University scheduled
for June 21-24, 2018)
Commenter, Eastern Division of the APA, January 2017
Student Adviser, The Summer Immersion Program in Philosophy (SIPP), Brown University,
June 2016 and June 2015

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 President, Philosophy Graduate Forum, Brown University, 2012-2013
Organizer, 7th Shapiro Graduate Conference, Brown University, November 14-15, 2012
Graduate Representative, Simon Fraser University, 2007-2009
Referee, The British Society for Ethical Theory
Referee, Noûs
Referee, Ethical Theory and Moral Practise
Referee, The Journal of Value Inquiry
Referee, The Ethics Forum
Section Editor, www.philpapers.org. Areas: Anti-Theory, Authenticity, Moral Luck

AWARDS

Philosophy Research Fellowship, Simon Fraser University, 2008-2009

Full Entrance Scholarship, Carleton University, 1999-2003
Tony DeSoto Political Science Scholarship, Carleton University, 2000

GRADUATE COURSWEWORK

Brown University
Speech, Thought and Agency – Jagewon Kim
Moral Psychology – Nomy Arpaly
Graduate Proseminar – Katharine Dunlop/Nomy Arpaly
Philosophy and Psychoanalysis – Bernard Reginster
Kant’s Practical Philosophy – Paul Guyer
Expressivism – Jamie Dreier
Metaphysics – Justin Broackes
Nietzsche on Morality and Psychology – Bernard Reginster
Parfit On What Matters – Charles Larmore
The Reception of Kant’s Ethics – Paul Guyer
The Epistemic Significance of Etiology – David Christensen/Josh Schechter
Plato and Knowledge – Rusty Jones (taken at Harvard)
Realism and Idealism in Political Theory – David Estlund (Audit)
Moral Realism – Jamie Dreier (Audit)
The Philosophy of G.A. Cohen – David Estlund and Charles Larmore

Simon Fraser University and Carleton University

Bernard Williams – Paul Russell
Hegel’s Phenomenology – Andrew Brook
Theories of Practical Reasoning – Evan Tiffany
Hume’s Treatise – Lisa Shapiro
Modes of Justification in Philosophy – Evan Tiffany
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 The Second-Personal Standpoint in Ethics – Sam Black
Normative Ethics – Evan Tiffany
Graduate Pro-Seminar – David Zimmerman
Philosophy of Mind – Kathleen Akins

REFERENCES

Bernard Reginster, Professor of Philosophy

Philosophy Department, Brown University
45 Prospect St.
Providence, Rhode Island, 02906
Bernard_Reginster@brown.edu
401-863-9132

Jamie Dreier, Professor of Philosophy

Philosophy Department, Brown University
45 Prospect St.
Providence, Rhode Island, 02906
James_Dreier@brown.edu
401-863-3226

Simon Kirchin, Professor of Philosophy, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities

Philosophy Department, University of Kent
Cornwallis North West
University of Kent
Canterbury, Kent
CT2 7NF
+44(0)1227 823312
Joshua Schechter, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Philosophy Department, Brown University
45 Prospect St.
Providence, Rhode Island, 02906
Joshua_Schechter@brown.edu
401-863-3225

Philip Kitcher, John Dewey Professor of Philosophy

Department of Philosophy, Columbia University
708 Philosophy Hall
1150 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, New York
10027
psk16@columbia.edu
(212) 854-4884

Evan Tiffany
Philosophy Department, Simon Fraser University
4604 Diamond Building
8888 University Drive

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Burnaby, B.C.
etiffany@sfu.ca
778-782-6647