Department of Philosophy 

CLAYTON LITTLEJOHN

Visiting Lecturer

Ph.D. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Aug. 2005.

Philosophy Department
Hyer Hall 210D
Southern Methodist University
P.O. Box 750142
Dallas TX 75275-0142

cmlittlejohn@yahoo.com

Personal Webpage:
http://people.smu.edu/clittle

Current Research

Most of my research concerns the justification of action and belief. In epistemology, I have written a number of papers developing an externalist account of justified belief. Along the way, I've discussed some of the paradoxes of belief (e.g., Moore's paradox and the lottery paradox), written a few things about the nature of evidence, and developed a view about the epistemic norms governing action, assertion, and belief. I am also trying to work out an account of the moral significance of an agent's intentions and motives. Although this line of research is a matter of developing some views I have about the kinds of demands normative reasons make on us and the means by they determine the normative standing of our acts and attitudes, I will write an occasional piece on issues in the philosophy of mind (e.g., issues having to do with intentional action, qualia, or thought content) or in applied ethics (e.g., the ethics of abortion).

Representative Publications

  • "Must We Act Only on What We Know?", Journal of Philosophy (pdf)
  • "On the Coherence of Spectrum Inversion", Acta Analytica (pdf)
  • "On Treating Something as a Reason for Action", Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy (pdf)
  • "Moore's Paradox and Epistemic Norms", Australasian Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming)
  • "'Ought', 'Can', and Practical Reasons", American Philosophical Quarterly (forthcoming)
  • "From E = K to Scepticism?", Philosophical Quarterly (forthcoming) (pdf)
  • "The Externalist's Demon", Canadian Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming) (pdf)
  • "Does Conceivability Entail Possibility?", The Reasoner 1 (5), 2007 (pdf)"
  • "Belief's Justification and the Demands of Reasons" for A. Reisner and A. Steglich-Petersen, Reasons for Belief.
  • "The New Evil Demon Problem" for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Works in Progress

  • "The Myth of the False, Justified Belief" (To be Presented at the Eastern Division Meetings of the APA in December, 2008)

Teaching

  • Business Ethics
  • Contemporary Moral Problems
  • Knowledge and Scepticism (Independent Study)
  • Introduction to Philosophy
  • Philosophy of Religion