Matthew Bedke

Matt Bedke is a philosopher who studies the nature of normativity. He is interested in claims about what we ought to do, what we have reason to do, what beliefs are justified, what political systems are just and fair, what things are good for their own sake, what counts as a virtue, and similar claims concerning advice and evaluation. While at the Center he will be focusing on the meanings of these sort of claims, the mental states and attitudes involved in having corresponding normative thoughts, and the facts (if any) that these claims and thoughts are about. His work draws on ethical theory, cognitive science, semantics, logic, and more. While a visiting scholar at CASBS, he plans to write a book manuscript arguing that some version of subjectivism is the best explanation of all the interesting features of normativity. Though on this view normativity bears deep similarities to matters of taste, the subjectivity he will defend avoids the corrosively skeptical thought that nothing *really* matters.

Bedke is currently a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia. He has published in metaethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of law. More information about him and his work can be found on his PhilPeople website: https://philpeople.org/profiles/matthew-bedke.