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
I am currently 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. 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.
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
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)
- Webber, J. 2019. Sartre's critique of Husserl. British Journal for the History of Philosophy (10.1080/09608788.2019.1591339)
- Webber, J. 2019. Being and nothingness: An essay in phenomenological ontology, by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Sarah Richmond (Routledge, 2018) [Book Review]. Mind (10.1093/mind/fzz024)
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
2017
- Webber, J. 2017. Sartre’s transcendental phenomenology. In: Zahavi, D. ed. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Phenomenology. Oxford: Oxford University Press
2016
- 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 New York: Routledge, pp. 189-204.
- Masala, A. and Webber, J. eds. 2016. From personality to virtue: essays on the philosophy of character. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Webber, J. 2016. Instilling virtue. In: Masala, A. and Webber, J. eds. From Personality to Virtue: Essays on the Philosophy of Character. Oxford University Press, pp. 134-154.
- 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 New York: Routledge, pp. 165-179.
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.
- Webber, J. 2013. Authenticity. In: Churchill, S. and Reynolds, J. eds. Jean-Paul Sartre: Key Concepts. Acumen, pp. 131-142.
- Scaife, R. and Webber, J. 2013. Intentional side-effects of action. Journal of Moral Philosophy 10(2), pp. 179-203. (10.1163/17455243-4681004)
- 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. 2011. Freedom. In: Luft, S. and Overgaard, S. eds. The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology. Routledge Philosophy Companions Routledge, pp. 327-335.
- 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.
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. Reconstructing Alfie. The Philosophers' Magazine 47, pp. 61-66.
- Webber, J. 2009. Sex. Philosophy 84(2), pp. 233-250. (10.1017/S0031819109000205)
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. Motivated aversion: bad faith and non-thetic awareness. Sartre Studies International 8(1), pp. 45-57. (10.3167/135715502781809693)
- Webber, J. 2002. Doing without representation: coping with Dreyfus. Philosophical Exploration 5(1), pp. 82-88. (10.1080/10002002018538723)
I am interested in supervising doctoral research that does at least one of these things:
- brings social psychology to bear on moral philosophy
- analyses the concepts and claims of social psychology
- analyses works of twentieth-century French existentialism
