Prof Tim Mulgan

Professor

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 2407
Email
tpm6@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Research areas

My current research centres around two questions. Is there a God? What do we owe to future people?

1. Moral and Metaphysical Arguments for Ananthropocentric Purposivism. 

This project explores the relationships between moral philosophy and an underdeveloped alternative to both atheism and traditional theism, namely: Ananthropocentric Purposivism (AP). This the view that the universe has a non-human-centred purpose – one to which human beings are irrelevant. AP is agnostic whether a purpose requires a personal creator. AP is worth exploring in part because it is a comparatively unexplored option – a middle-ground between atheism and classical theism. I argue that the metaphysical case supporting AP is at least as strong as that supporting either theism or atheism – by borrowing the best anti-theist arguments from atheists and the best anti-atheist arguments from theists. I also argue that we cannot settle the metaphysical dispute without bringing in moral judgments, and that those judgments favour AP. In short, either metaphysics supports AP, or metaphysics leaves the choice open – and then morality supports AP. Finally, AP has implications for moral philosophy – supporting a liberal impartial morality built on genuinely objective values. AP offers more robust values than atheism; and a more robust response to evil than theism.

  2. Ethics for a broken world.   This project explores the morality of life within a broken world – a place where resources are insufficient to meet the basic needs of the population. As a result of climate change, this may well be the world our descendants will inherit. I argue that utilitarianism copes with the bleak realities of a broken world, while various barriers we erect against the demands of utilitarianism (notably individual rights and national boundaries) become untenable in such a world. This project also extends my earlier work on our own obligations to future people, asking how the future prospect of a broken world affects those obligations.

PhD supervision

  • Nathan Bray
  • Miguel De La Cal Moreno

Selected publications

  • Open access

    Anselm on THAT, THIS, and panpsychism

     Mulgan, T., 2025, In: Religious Studies.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Philosophy for an Ending World

     Mulgan, T., 2024, Oxford University Press.

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Philosophy for an Ending World

     Mulgan, T., 2024, Justice Between Generations. Fritsche, M. (ed.). Cambridge University Press, p. 204-222

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

  • Could we worship a non-human-centred impersonal cosmic purpose?

     Mulgan, T., 2022, Personal and A-Personal Aspects of the Divine. Gasser, G. & Kittle, S. (eds.). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 285-302

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

  • Open access

    From Brad to worse: rule-consequentialism and undesirable futures

     Mulgan, T., 5 Aug 2022, In: Ratio. Early View, 14 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access

    Charting just futures for Aotearoa New Zealand: philosophy for and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic

     Mulgan, T., Enright, S., Grix, M., Jayasuriya, U., Ka‘ili, T. O., Lear, A. M., Māhina, '. N. M., Māhina, '., Matthewson, J., Moore, A., Parke, E. C., Schouten, V. & Watene, K., 23 Mar 2021, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Latest Articles, 12 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Consequentialism as an Intergenerational Ethic

     Mulgan, T., 2021, The Oxford Handbook of Intergenerational Ethics. Gardiner, S. (ed.). Oxford University Press

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

  • A New Utilitarianism: Future-Oriented, Collective, Pessimistic

     Mulgan, T., 2020, UTILITARIANISM. THE PITT BUILDING, TRUMPINGTON ST, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1RP, CAMBS, ENGLAND: Cambridge University Press, p. 4-25 22 p. (Elements in Ethics).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

  • Well-Being and Possible Futures

     Mulgan, T., 2020, UTILITARIANISM. THE PITT BUILDING, TRUMPINGTON ST, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1RP, CAMBS, ENGLAND: Cambridge University Press, p. 26-40 15 p. (Elements in Ethics).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

  • Climate Change and Moral Philosophy

     Mulgan, T. P., 2017, Climate Change and the Humanities. Elliott, A., Cullis, J. & Damodaran, V. (eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, p. 247-265

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

 

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