Professor Jonathan Webber
Deputy Head and Head of Subject
School of English, Communication and Philosophy
- webberj1@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 29 2087 5660
- 1.54, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
- 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.
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
Publications
2023
- Webber, J. 2023. Sartre and the international impact of existentialism, edited by Alfred Betschart and Juliane Werner (Palgrave, 2020) [Book Review]. Sartre Studies International 29(1)
2022
- Webber, J. 2022. Sartre's critique of patriarchy. French Studies
2020
- 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. Sociality, seriousness, and cynicism: a response to Ronald Santoni on bad faith. Sartre Studies International 26(1), pp. 61-76. (10.3167/ssi.2020.260106)
- Webber, J. 2020. Being and nothingness: An essay in phenomenological ontology, by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Sarah Richmond (Routledge, 2018) [Book Review]. Mind 129(513), pp. 332-339. (10.1093/mind/fzz024)
- Webber, J. 2020. Sartre's critique of Husserl. British Journal for the History of Philosophy 28(1), pp. 155-176. (10.1080/09608788.2019.1591339)
- Webber, J. 2020. Sartre's phenomenological psychology of imagination. In: The Sartrean Mind. Routledge Philosophical Minds Abingdon: Routledge
2019
- Webber, J. 2019. Existential flourishing: A phenomenology of the virtues [Book Review]. Philosophical Quarterly, pp. -. (10.1093/pq/pqz054)
- 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)
2018
- 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. Rethinking existentialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- 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
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
- Webber, J. 2015. Character, attitude and disposition. European Journal of Philosophy 23(4), pp. 1082-1096. (10.1111/ejop.12028)
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
- Webber, J. 2012. Where's Beauvoir? The boxer and the goalkeeper: Sartre versus Camus, by Andy Martin [Book Review]. Times Literary Supplement 5724, pp. 26.
- Webber, J. 2012. A law unto oneself. The Philosophical Quarterly 62(246), pp. 170-189. (10.1111/j.1467-9213.2011.692.x)
2011
- Webber, J. 2011. Catalano, Joseph S. Reading Sartre - 213pp, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010, Paperback,£25.99, ISBN 9780521152273 [Book Review]. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
- Webber, J. ed. 2011. Reading Sartre: on phenomenology and existentialism. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
- 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. There Is Something About Inez. Think 10(27), pp. 45-56. (10.1017/S1477175610000345)
- Webber, J. 2011. Virtue and Vice in the Hurt Locker. Dialogue: A Journal of Religion and Philosophy 37, pp. 19-21.
- Webber, J. 2011. Freedom. In: Luft, S. and Overgaard, S. eds. The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology. Routledge Philosophy Companions Routledge, pp. 327-335.
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
- Webber, J. 2009. The existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre. Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Philosophy Vol. 30. London: Routledge.
- Webber, J. 2009. Sex. Philosophy 84(2), pp. 233-250. (10.1017/S0031819109000205)
- Webber, J. 2009. Reconstructing Alfie. The Philosophers' Magazine 47, pp. 61-66.
2007
- Webber, J. 2007. Character, common-sense, and expertise. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 10(1), pp. 89-104. (10.1007/s10677-006-9041-7)
- Webber, J. 2007. Character, global and local. Utilitas 19(4), pp. 430-434. (10.1017/S0953820807002725)
2006
- Webber, J. 2006. Character, consistency, and classification. Mind 115(459), pp. 651-658. (10.1093/mind/fzl651)
- Webber, J. 2006. Sartre's theory of character. European Journal of Philosophy 14(1), pp. 94-116. (10.1111/j.1468-0378.2006.00245.x)
- Webber, J. 2006. Virtue, character and situation. Journal of Moral Philosophy 3, pp. 193-213.
2004
- Satre, J. Webber, J. ed. 2004. The Imaginary: a phenomenological psychology of the imagination.Webber, J. London: Routledge.
2002
- Webber, J. 2002. Doing without representation: coping with Dreyfus. Philosophical Exploration 5(1), pp. 82-88. (10.1080/10002002018538723)
- Webber, J. 2002. Motivated aversion: bad faith and non-thetic awareness. Sartre Studies International 8(1), pp. 45-57. (10.3167/135715502781809693)
Supervision
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
Past projects
Ontological Critique: A Philosophical Tool for Advancing Social Psychology
– Matthew Lloyd Jenkins, 2021
Interpersonal Atmospheres: An Empathetic Account
– Lucy Osler, 2020
(co-supervised with Professor Giovanna Colombetti, University of Exeter)
Kant and the Unity of Reason
– John Saunders, 2019
The Communicative Theory of Punishment and The Problem of Dangerous Offenders
– Daisy Seabourne, 2019
A Humean Metaphysics of Character
– Ethan Chambers, 2018
