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Jonathan Webber

Professor Jonathan Webber

Deputy Head and Head of Subject

School of English, Communication and Philosophy

Email
WebberJ1@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29208 75660
Campuses
John Percival Building, Room 1.54, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

I  am currently Deputy Head of School and Head of Philosophy, having arrived here as Lecturer in 2008.

I research and teach at the intersection of moral philosophy and the philosophy of psychology. I am especially interested in what contemporary social psychology can offer to current debates in moral philosophy, and in how philosophy and psychology can be informed by twentieth-century French existentialism.  

I am President of the UK Sartre Society and a Trustee of The Mind Association. I was President of the British Society for Ethical Theory 2014-19.

My most recent book is Rethinking Existentialism, published by Oxford University Press in 2018. One review has described it as "the only book one needs".

The best way to find out more about my work is to read or listen to my freely available Aeon magazine essay Against Type, which is about French existentialism, social psychology, and contemporary ethics.

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2020

2019

2018

2016

  • Webber, J. 2016. Knowing one's own desires. In: Dahlstrom, D. O., Elpidorou, A. and Hopp, W. eds. Philosophy of Mind and Phenomenology: Conceptual and Empirical Approaches. Routledge Research in Phenomenology Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 165-179.
  • Webber, J. 2016. Habituation and first-person authority. In: Altshuler, R. and Sigrist, M. J. eds. Time and the Philosophy of Action. Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 189-204.
  • Webber, J. 2016. Instilling virtue. In: Masala, A. and Webber, J. eds. From Personality to Virtue: Essays on the Philosophy of Character. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 134-154.
  • Masala, A. and Webber, J. eds. 2016. From personality to virtue: essays on the philosophy of character. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2015

2014

  • Rees, C. F. and Webber, J. 2014. Automaticity in virtuous action. In: Snow, N. and Trivigno, F. eds. The Philosophy and Psychology of Character and Happiness. Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory London: Routledge, pp. 75-90.

2013

  • Webber, J. 2013. Liar!. Analysis 73(4), pp. 651-659. (10.1093/analys/ant081)
  • Webber, J. 2013. Cultivating virtue. In: Carel, H. and Meacham, D. eds. Phenomenology and Naturalism: Examining the Relationship between Human Experience and Nature. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements Vol. 72. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 239-259.
  • Webber, J. 2013. Bad faith and the unconscious. In: LaFolette, H. ed. International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Wiley, pp. 471-479.
  • Scaife, R. and Webber, J. 2013. Intentional side-effects of action. Journal of Moral Philosophy 10(2), pp. 179-203. (10.1163/17455243-4681004)
  • Webber, J. 2013. Authenticity. In: Churchill, S. and Reynolds, J. eds. Jean-Paul Sartre: Key Concepts. Acumen, pp. 131-142.
  • Rees, C. F. and Webber, J. 2013. Constancy, fidelity, and integrity. In: van Hooft, S. ed. The Handbook of Virtue Ethics. Acumen Handbooks Abingdon: Acumen, pp. 399-408.

2012

2011

2010

  • Webber, J. 2010. Character. The Philosophers' Magazine 50, pp. 112-113.
  • Webber, J. 2010. Existentialism. In: Skorupski, J. ed. The Routledge Companion to Ethics. London: Routledge, pp. 230-240.

2009

2007

2006

2004

2002

Articles

Book sections

  • Webber, J. 2023. Transcendental phenomenology meets negritude poetry. In: Heter, T. S. and Sealey, K. F. eds. Creolizing Sartre. Creolizing the Canon Lanham MA: Rowman and Littlefield
  • Webber, J. 2023. Rethinking Existentialism: From radical freedom to project sedimentation. In: Saunders, J. ed. Freedom After Kant: From German Idealism to Ethics and the Self. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 191-204.
  • Webber, J. 2020. Evaluative attitudes as the motivational structures of ethical virtues. In: Darnell, C. A. and Kristjánsson, K. eds. Virtues and Virtue Education in Theory and Practice: Are Virtues Local or Universal?. New York: Routledge, pp. 55-68., (10.4324/9780429343131)
  • Webber, J. 2020. Sartre's phenomenological psychology of imagination. In: The Sartrean Mind. Routledge Philosophical Minds Abingdon: Routledge
  • Webber, J. 2019. Bad faith and the unconscious. In: LaFolette, H., Deigh, J. and Stroud, S. eds. International Encyclopedia of Ethics. John Wiley and Sons, (10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee619.pub2)
  • Webber, J. 2018. Sartre’s transcendental phenomenology. In: Zahavi, D. ed. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Phenomenology. Oxford Handbooks Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 286-301.
  • Webber, J. 2018. Beauvoir and the meaning of life. In: Leach, S. and Tartaglia, J. eds. The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers. Abingdon and New York: Routledge
  • Webber, J. 2016. Knowing one's own desires. In: Dahlstrom, D. O., Elpidorou, A. and Hopp, W. eds. Philosophy of Mind and Phenomenology: Conceptual and Empirical Approaches. Routledge Research in Phenomenology Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 165-179.
  • Webber, J. 2016. Habituation and first-person authority. In: Altshuler, R. and Sigrist, M. J. eds. Time and the Philosophy of Action. Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 189-204.
  • Webber, J. 2016. Instilling virtue. In: Masala, A. and Webber, J. eds. From Personality to Virtue: Essays on the Philosophy of Character. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 134-154.
  • Rees, C. F. and Webber, J. 2014. Automaticity in virtuous action. In: Snow, N. and Trivigno, F. eds. The Philosophy and Psychology of Character and Happiness. Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory London: Routledge, pp. 75-90.
  • Webber, J. 2013. Cultivating virtue. In: Carel, H. and Meacham, D. eds. Phenomenology and Naturalism: Examining the Relationship between Human Experience and Nature. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements Vol. 72. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 239-259.
  • Webber, J. 2013. Bad faith and the unconscious. In: LaFolette, H. ed. International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Wiley, pp. 471-479.
  • Webber, J. 2013. Authenticity. In: Churchill, S. and Reynolds, J. eds. Jean-Paul Sartre: Key Concepts. Acumen, pp. 131-142.
  • Rees, C. F. and Webber, J. 2013. Constancy, fidelity, and integrity. In: van Hooft, S. ed. The Handbook of Virtue Ethics. Acumen Handbooks Abingdon: Acumen, pp. 399-408.
  • Webber, J. 2011. Bad faith and the Other. In: Webber, J. ed. Reading Sartre: on Phenomenology and Existentialism. London: Routledge, pp. 180-194.
  • Webber, J. 2011. Climate change and public moral reasoning. In: Brooks, T. ed. New Waves in Ethics. New Waves in Philosophy Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 278-294.
  • Webber, J. 2011. Freedom. In: Luft, S. and Overgaard, S. eds. The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology. Routledge Philosophy Companions Routledge, pp. 327-335.
  • Webber, J. 2010. Existentialism. In: Skorupski, J. ed. The Routledge Companion to Ethics. London: Routledge, pp. 230-240.

Books

Biography

Professor of Philosophy, Cardiff University, since 2017

Reader in Philosophy, Cardiff University, 2012-17

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Cardiff University, 2010-12

Lecturer in Philosophy, Cardiff University, 2008-10

Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Bristol, 2006-8

Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Sheffield, 2001-6

PhD in Philosophy, University of London, 2001

MPhil in Philosophy, University of London, 1997

BA(Hons) in Philosophy and Theology, University of Oxford, 1994

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising doctoral research that does at least one of these things:

  • considers implications of cognitive psychology or social psychology for moral philosophy
  • analyses concepts and claims central to contemporary social psychology
  • argues for the relevance of works of twentieth-century existentialism to moral philosophy
  • analyses works of twentieth-century phenomenology and existentialism

Current Projects

Post-Ironic Existentialism
– Thom Hamer

Reciprocity and Universal Moral Grammar
– Harriet Ivison

The Problem of Disgust for Naturalistic Virtue Ethics
– James Paskin

New street art stencil celebrates under-appreciated philosopher from Wales

New street art stencil celebrates under-appreciated philosopher from Wales

05 December 2022

Values and Virtues for a Challenging World

Values and Virtues for a Challenging World

08 August 2022

The Meaning of Life

The Meaning of Life

11 June 2019

External profiles