{"id":53,"date":"2010-03-09T10:06:33","date_gmt":"2010-03-09T15:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/?page_id=53"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:18:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:18:03","slug":"davis-gordon","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/people\/davis-gordon\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordon Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"mb-6 cu-pageheader cu-component-updated md:mb-12\">\n    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 pb-5 after:w-10 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px\">\n                    \n             \n                \n            <\/h1>\n\n    \n    <\/header>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"associate-professor\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Associate Professor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gordon Davis&#8217;s research includes both historical work on ethical, political and metaphysical themes in the works of Hume, Kant and their contemporaries, and investigations into the applicability of methods of argument developed by these philosophers &#8211; as well as neo-Humean and neo-Kantian variations &#8211; to contemporary debates in ethics and metaethics. One of Gordon&#8217;s current projects explores the prospects for a theoretical synthesis of key elements within the three main traditions of contemporary ethical theory (consequentialism, Kantian deontology and virtue ethics). He also has a strong interest in applied ethics &#8211; especially issues surrounding biotechnology and obligations to future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Courses Winter 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>PHIL 2020: Issues in Practical Philosophy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>PHIL 2101: History of Ethics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>PHIL 2002: 18th Century Philosophy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Research Interests <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Moral and political philosophy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Metaethics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>History of modern philosophy (esp. Hume, Kant and Kantian philosophy)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>History of Ethics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Comparative Philosophy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"selected-publications\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Selected Publications<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/200\/IMG_1487-e1587138064669-240x320.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/200\/IMG_1487-e1587138064669-240x320.jpg 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/200\/IMG_1487-e1587138064669-160x213.jpg 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/200\/IMG_1487-e1587138064669-400x533.jpg 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/200\/IMG_1487-e1587138064669-360x480.jpg 360w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/200\/IMG_1487-e1587138064669.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLibert\u00e9 ontologique, lib\u00e9ration \u00e9thique: Sartre et le bouddhisme Mahayana\u201d, a chapter co-authored with P. Hoyeck &amp; N. Ramlakhan, in G. Davis, S. Hinzelin &amp; P-A. Hoyeck (eds), \u00c9thique et Impersonnalit\u00e9: Ontologies occidentales et bouddhistes du sujet<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLes vertus du consequentialisme et le consequentialisme de la vertu chez Hume, \u00e0 travers le prisme bouddhique\u201d, a chapter co-authored with Charles Goodman, in G. Davis, S. Hinzelin &amp; P-A. Hoyeck (eds), \u00c9thique et Impersonnalit\u00e9: Ontologies occidentales et bouddhistes du sujet<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLumi\u00e9re naturelle et luminosit\u00e9 axiologique chez Descartes et Vasubandhu\u201d, in G. Davis, S. Hinzelin &amp; P-A. Hoyeck (eds), \u00c9thique et Impersonnalit\u00e9: Ontologies occidentales et bouddhistes du sujet<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Why would a Buddha lie? Varieties of Buddhist Consequentialism\u201d, in M. Hemmingsen (ed), Ethical Theory in Global Perspective (SUNY, forthcoming)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>G. Davis &amp; S. Hinzelin (eds), Le souci sans soi : deux traditions philosophiques en dialogue (2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSelf-sceptical ethics and Selfless Morality: A Historical and Cross-Cultural Overview,\u201d in G. Davis (ed.), Ethics without Self, Dharma without Atman: Western &amp; Buddhist Philosophical Traditions in Dialogue (Springer 2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Atipada Problem in Buddhist Meta-Ethics,\u201d <em>Journal of Buddhist Ethics<\/em> 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMoral Realism and Anti-Realism outside the West: A Meta-Ethical Turn in Buddhist Ethics\u201d, <i>Comparative Philosophy<\/i>, volume 4 (2): 24-53.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Normativity of Inclusion and Exclusion: Should Multiculturalism Encompass Religious Identities?\u201d&nbsp; in <em>Multiculturalism and Religious Identity<\/em> (ed. L. Beaman &amp; S. Sikka, McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press). 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cConceptions and Intuitions of the Highest Good in Buddhist Philosophy: A Meta-Ethical Analysis.\u201d&nbsp; in <i>Comparative Philosophy and J.L. Shaw<\/i> (ed. P. Bilimoria &amp; M. Hemmingsen, for <i>Sophia Studies in Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Cultures and Traditions<\/i>, Springer). 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Buddhist, Western and Hybrid Perspectives on Liberty Rights and Economic Rights&#8221;,&nbsp; in <em>Value and Values: Economics and Justice in an Age of Global Interdependence<\/em> (ed. R. Ames &amp; P. Hershock, University of Hawaii Press). 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Traces of Consequentialism and Non-Consequentialism in Bodhisattva Ethics&#8221;, <em>Philosophy East and West<\/em>, volume 64 (1): 275-305.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Civic Respect, Civic Education and the Family&#8221; (with B.E. Neufeld), <em>Educational Philosophy and Theory<\/em>, special issue on &#8220;Toleration, Respect and Recognition&#8221;, Volume 42 (1): 94-111.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Political Liberalism, Civic Education and Educational Choice&#8221; (with B.E. Neufeld), <em>Social Theory and Practice<\/em> 33(1): 47-74.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Philosophical Psychology and Economic Psychology in David Hume and Adam Smith&#8221;, <em>History of Political Economy<\/em> 35(2): 269-304.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4512,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Gordon","cu_people_last_name":"Davis","cu_people_initials":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[22],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-53","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-full-time-faculty"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Moral philosophy; Kant; Social and political philosophy; Metaethics; Comparative history of ethics","cu_people_degree":"B.A. (McGill), B. Phil (Oxford), M. Ed. (Toronto), B. Ed. 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