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 supervised by Professor Guy Kahane and Professor Roger Crisp and supported by the Ryle / T. H. Green Moral Philosophy Scholarship and a Global Priorities Fellowship. Before coming to Oxford in 2021, I completed an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and a BA in Philosophy at the University of Warwick.

Here's my CV.

Research

My doctoral research concerns normative nihilism and its implications. I am currently interested in such questions as: "How can normative nihilists deliberate?"; "Is there a place for normative discourse after normative nihilism?"; "How 'should' we act under uncertainty about the truth of normative nihilism?".

I am also interested in a number of issues in practical philosophy more generally, especially regarding uncertainty in metaethics, duties of beneficence, and philosophical questions surrounding meaning in life.

Publications

Revolutionary Normative Subjectivism. Forthcoming in Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

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

Teaching

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

I have also supervised an undergraduate thesis on welfare subjectivism.

Public Philosophy

Since 2022 I have co-hosted The Philosopher's Nest podcast along with Kyle van Oosterum. The Philosopher's Nest showcases 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.