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Professor Geoffrey Scarre, BA, MA, PhD

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Biography

I am a Professor at Durham Philosophy Department where I specialise in a broad range of issues concerning moral philosophy.  I have an abiding interest in utilitarianism and the philosophy of John Stuart Mill and have also written on the subject of death which I considered from both an historical point of view and across a broad spectrum of different thinkers. 

My most recent research has focussed on the notion of courage and also on the ethics of archaeology.  As such, I have founded and am the Co-Director of the Durham University Centre for the Ethics of Cultural Heritage.  This is an inter-disciplinary body of academics from Durham - predominantly  from Philosophy and Archaeology - aiming to develop rigorous and systematic analysis of the ethically complex and, at times, politically charged, issue of cultural heritage.

Research Interests

I would welcome enquiries from students wishing to study in any of the following research areas:

• Moral philosophy
• Utilitarianism
• Death
• Forgiveness
• Evil
• John Stuart Mill
• Ethics of Archaeology

Undergraduate Teaching

• Moral Theory
• Issues In Contemporary Ethics

Postgraduate Teaching

• Current Issues In Ethics

Administrative Duties

• Chair of the Board of Examiners (Undergraduate)
• Director of Undergraduate Studies

Research Groups

• Ethics

Research Projects

Department of Archaeology

• Time and Heritage: stability and conflict in global and local cultures

Selected Publications

Books: authored

• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2010). On Courage. Routledge.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2007). Death. Stocksfield: Acumen.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2007). Mill's on Liberty: a reader's guide. London, New York: Continuum.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2004). After evil: responding to wrongdoing. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (1996). Utilitarianism. London: Routledge.

Books: edited

• Scarre, Chris & Scarre, Geoffrey (2006). The ethics of archaeology: philosophical perspectives on archaeological practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. & Garrard, E. (2003). Moral philosophy and the Holocaust. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Edited works: contributions

• Scarre, Geoffrey (2010). Apologising for historical injustices. In The Ethics of Forgiveness. Fricke, C. Routledge. 166-178.
• Scarre, Geoffrey (2010). Evil. In The Routledge Companion to Ethics. Skorupski, John Routledge. 584-595.
• Scarre, Geoffrey (2009). Dying and philosophy. In Perspectives on Dying. Kellehear, A. CUP. 147-162.
• Scarre, Geoffrey (2009). The repatriation of human remains. In The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation. Young, J. & Brunk, C. Blackwell. 72-92.
• Scarre, Geoffrey (2009). Wrong that is right? The paradox of the felix culpa. In The Positive Functions of Evil. Tabensky, P. Blackwell. 14-27.

Journal papers: academic

• Scarre, GF (2012). 'Evil collectives'. Midwest Studies in Philosophy 36(1): 74-92.
• Scarre, Geoffrey (2012). Speaking of the dead. Mortality 17(1): 1-15.
• Scarre, Geoffrey (2011). Political reconciliation, forgiveness and grace. Journal of Christian Ethics 171-182.
• Scarre, Geoffrey (2009). The banality of good. Journal of Moral Philosophy 6(4): 499-519.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2006). Corrective justice and reputation. Journal of moral philosophy 3(3): 305-319.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2005). Excusing the inexcusable? Moral responsibility and ideologically-motivated wrongdoing. Journal of social philosophy 36(4): 457-472.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2003). Archaeology and respect for the dead. Journal of applied philosophy 20(3): 237–249.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2003). Corporal punishment. Ethical theory & moral practice 6(3): 295-316.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (2001). On caring about one's posthumous reputation. American philosophical quarterly 38(2): 209-219.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (1998). Interpreting the categorical imperative. British journal for the history of philosophy 6(2): 223-236.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (1998). Understanding the moral phenomenology of the Third Reich. Ethical theory and moral practice 1(4): 423-445.
• Scarre, Geoffrey. (1997). Should we fear death?. European journal of philosophy 5(3): 269-282.

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