Lewis Williams


Email: lewis.williams "at" philosophy.ox.ac.uk

About

I'm a DPhil candidate in Philosophy at the University of Oxford. My research is presently funded by the Analysis Studentship, offered by The Analysis Trust. From October 2025, I will be an Early Career Research Fellow at Merton College, University of Oxford.

Here's my CV.

Research

I work mainly in ethics. To date, much of my research has concerned the practical philosophical implications of normative nihilism. In the near future, I plan to work on the practical philosophical implications of uncertainty and pluralism in meta-ethics. Other research interests include the ethics of AI (especially value alignment), duties of beneficence, and philosophical questions surrounding meaning in life.

Publications

Why Moral Paradoxes Actually Support Moral Nihilism (and Why That Matters). The Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming).

Revolutionary Normative Subjectivism. Australasian Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming).

Moral Nihilism—So What?. Ethics 134 (2023): 108-121.

Teaching

At the University of Oxford, I have tutored the following courses:

I have also served as a Teaching Assistant for General Philosophy and supervised an undergraduate thesis on welfare subjectivism.

Public Philosophy

I am a 2025 Philosophy in Media Fellow.

Between 2022 and 2025 I co-hosted The Philosopher's Nest podcast along with Kyle van Oosterum. The Philosopher's Nest showcased the work, insights, and experiences of graduate students in philosophy.

Between 2019 and 2021 I hosted the Searching For It podcast. Searching For It explored various philosophical thoughts and themes that inform the search for meaning in life. Searching For It peaked at #2 on Apple Podcasts' daily Philosophy charts in the United States of America.