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Theron Pummer | |
|---|---|
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of California, San Diego (PhD) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Philosophy |
Sub-discipline | Effective Altruism |
| Institutions | University of St Andrews |
Theron Pummer is an American philosopher currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. His research focusses on issues in ethics and metaphysics, particularly on the study of effective altruism.
Career
[edit]Pummer took a Bachelor of Science in Philosophy and Cognitive Neuroscience at George Washington University and a PhD in Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego. Afterwards he spent a year as a Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Oxford. In 2015 Pummer then joined the University of St Andrews where he first served as Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer before his professorial appointment in 2023.[1][2] Between 2015 and 2023 Pummer also served as Director of the St Andrews Centre for Ethics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs (CEPPA).[3]
Pummer has published widely on various topics in ethics including on effective altruism, obligation, harm, hypersensitivity, and rescue.[4] His first book The Rules of Rescue: Cost, Distance and Effective Altruism, which attempts to offer a non-consequentialist approach to the ethics of helping strangers, was received favourably by reviewers and praised as a "valuable contribution to rescue ethics and the ethics of effective altruism" with reviewers highlighting its clarity, breath, and structure.[5][6][7]
Selected works
[edit]Books
[edit]- The Rules of Rescue: Cost, Distance and Effective Altruism. Oxford University Press, 2023.
- Effective Altruism: Philosophical Issues. Oxford University Press, 2019. (Co-edited with Hilary Greaves)[8]
Articles
[edit]- "Contrastive Consent and Secondary Permissibility." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 106(3), 2022: 677–691.
- "Supererogation and Conditional Obligation." Philosophical Studies 179(5), 2021. (Co-written with Daniel Muñoz)
- "Impermissible yet Praiseworthy." Ethics 131(4), 2021: 697–726.[9]
- "Effective Justice." Journal of Moral Philosophy 17(4), 2020: 398–415. (Co-written with Roger Crisp)
- "Spectrum arguments and hypersensitivity." Philosophical Studies 175(7), 2018: 1729–1744.
- "Whether and Where to Give." Philosophy and Public Affairs 44(1), 2016: 77–95.
- "Does Division Multiply Desert?" Philosophical Review 123(1), 2014: 43–77.
- "Intuitions about large number cases." Analysis 73(1), 2013: 37–43.
External links
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Stohlman-Vanderveen, Maryellen (2023-02-03). "Recently Published Book Spotlight: The Rules of Rescue | Blog of the APA". Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "Theron Pummer (University of St. Andrews) - PhilPeople". philpeople.org. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "CEPPA – Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs". ceppa.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "Theron Pummer on the Rules of Rescue". Philosophy Bites. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ Murphy, Peter (2024-09-09). "Pummer, Theron. The Rules of Rescue: Cost, Distance, and Effective Altruism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. 264. $34.99 (cloth)". Ethics. 135 (1). The University of Chicago Press: 213–217. doi:10.1086/731432.
- ↑ Muñoz, Daniel (2025-01-01). "The Rules of Rescue: Cost, Distance, and Effective Altruism, by Theron Pummer". Mind. 134 (533): 292–301. doi:10.1093/mind/fzad043. ISSN 0026-4423.
- ↑ Maheshwari, Kritika (2026-09-18). "Theron Pummer, The Rules of Rescue: Cost, Distance, and Effective Altruism (Oxford University Press, 2025), pp. 264". Utilitas: 1–4. doi:10.1017/S0953820826100430. ISSN 0953-8208.
- ↑ Balfour, Dylan (2021-02-05). "Hilary Greaves and Theron Pummer (eds.), Effective Altruism: Philosophical Issues (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 272 pages. isbn: 9780198841364 (hbk.). Hardback/eBook: ￡55.00/￡52.25". Journal of Moral Philosophy. 18 (1): 99–102.
- ↑ Weinberg, Justin (2022-08-25). "2021 Philosopher's Annual". Daily Nous. Retrieved 2026-10-03.