Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Practical Philosophy/Ethics


Prof. Dr. Thomas Schmidt

 

Office: Unter den Linden 6, room 3043

Phone: +49 30 2093-70456
   

Research Interests

 Foundational questions in moral philosophy (metaethics, theory of reasons); normative ethics

Vita

Studied philosophy, mathematics, physics and economics at Göttingen and Oxford. PhD in philosophy (Göttingen, 1998). Habilitation in philosophy (Göttingen University, 2005). Since 2006 professor of philosophy at Humboldt University, Berlin. Visiting posts and fellowships at various universities, including St Andrews (UK), Münster and Zurich.

Recent Publications (selection)

“Reasons First, Deontic Logic Second”, in: R. Shafer-Landau (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Vol. 22, Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

“Supererogation and the Structure of Reasons”, in: S. Behrens/B. Kiesewetter (eds.), The Structure of Normativity: Exploring the Prospects of the Reasons-First Approach, London: Routledge, forthcoming.

“Conditional Oughts and Contrastive Reasons”, Philosophical Studies , Vol. 182/10 (2025), pp. 2677–2690.

“The Balancing View of Ought”, Ethics 134 Vol. 2 (2024), pp. 246-267.

“How Reasons Determine Moral Requirements”, in: R. Shafer-Landau (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Vol. 18, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2023, pp. 97-115.

(see also my PhilPeople profile)

Recent and Upcoming Talks (selection)

“Three Things Reasons Do: Transmission, Aggregation, and Difference-Making”, ZEGRa Research Colloquium, University of Zurich (27 May 2026); Philosophy Departmental Seminar, ANU, Canberra (6 August 2026); Workshop Normative Reasons and Morality, Goethe University Frankfurt (19-20 November 2026); MCMP Research Colloquium, LMU Munich (26 November 2026)

“Rescue Dilemmas and the Aggregation of Reasons”, Department of Philosophy, University of Salzburg (24 March 2026); Institut de Philosophie, Université de Neuchâtel (05 May 2026); Berlin-Bern-Zurich-Workshop Ethical Theory, University of Bern (08 May 2026); 100th Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association, University of Reading (10 July 2026); Workshop Normativity in Ethics and Epistemology, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (19 January 2027)

“Reasons First, Deontic Logic Second”, Workshop Reasons, Explanations, Models, University of Hamburg (02 October 2024); Department of Philosophy, Bielefeld University (29 January 2025); Fifth Groningen Metaethics Workshop, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen (09 April 2025); Berlin-Bern-Zurich-Workshop Ethical Theory (11 April 2025); Department of Philosophy, University of Erlangen (29 April 2025); Ethik-Zentrum, University of Zürich (22 May 2025);  99th Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association, University of Glasgow (12 July 2025); GAP.12, HHU Düsseldorf (09 September 2025); Madison Metaethics Workshop, University of Wisconsin-Madison (13 September 2025); Ethics and Political Philosophy Colloquium, Université de Fribourg (13 May 2026); Workshop Reasons and Ought, University of Bern (29 May 2026)

“Supererogation and the Structure of Reasons”, Workshop Reasons, Ought, and Normative Transmission, HU Berlin (19 May 2022); Joint Session 2022, University of St Andrews (10 July 2022); GAP.11, HU Berlin (15 September 2022); Ethik-Zentrum, University of Zürich (27 March 2023); Centre for Moral and Political Philosophy, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (18 April 2023); Workshop Current Issues in Metaethics and Practical Normativity, HU Berlin (13 June 2023); Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen (26 September 2023); Institute of Philosophy and Political Science, TU Dortmund (23 April 2024); Department of Philosophy, University of Zürich (29 May 2024); Department of Philosophy, University of Tübingen (08 January 2025); Advanced seminar in Practical Philosophy, LMU Munich (18 November 2025); Department of Philosophy, Bielefeld University (8 January 2026); Workshop Reasons and Ought, University of Bern (29 May 2026)

“Contrastive Normativity Without Contrastivism”, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen (27 September 2023); Workshop Reasons in Ethics and Epistemology, Bielefeld University (05 October 2023); Ethik-Zentrum, University of Zürich (13 November 2023); Ruhr University Bochum (24 January 2024); Chapel Hill Normativity Workshop, UNC-Chapel Hill (09 March 2024); Department of Philosophy, Lund University (04 April 2024); 98th Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association, University of Birmingham (13 July 2024); XXVI. Deutscher Kongress für Philosophie, University of Münster (23 September 2024); Department of Philosophy, University of Southampton (06 November 2024)

“Oughts, Reasons, and Normative Transmission”, Department of Philosophy, Universität Lund (05 November 2020); Department of Philosophy, University of Bern (04 March 2021); Department of Philosophy, University of Erlangen (30 September 2021); Department of Philosophy, University of St Andrews (31 March 2022); Department of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh (29 April 2022); Institut de Philosophie, Université de Neuchâtel (13 December 2022); Philosophisches Seminar, Heidelberg University (11 July 2023);  National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (29 September 2023)

“How Reasons Determine Moral Requirements”, Department of Philosophy, HU Berlin (21 April 2021); Cyprus Metaethics Workshop (keynote talk), University of Cyprus (26 May 2021); Madison Metaethics Workshop, University of Wisconsin-Madison (17-19 September 2021); Ethik-Zentrum, University of Zürich (04 October 2021)