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Dr Christopher Cowie's Outputs (22)

Optimism in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life? A Philosophical Perspective (2025)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (online). Optimism in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life? A Philosophical Perspective. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society,

The large number of planets in our galaxy is often appealed to as the basis for optimism that life exists beyond earth in sufficiently large quantities that we might reasonably hope to detect or otherwise encounter it. In an article published over th... Read More about Optimism in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life? A Philosophical Perspective.

Methodological Conservatism in the Assessment of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (2025)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (in press). Methodological Conservatism in the Assessment of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Ergo,

The vast majority of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) can be given everyday explanations. Sightings turn out to be, for example, aeroplanes, clouds, or shooting stars. But some resist explanation. Speculation is rife with respect to their natur... Read More about Methodological Conservatism in the Assessment of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.

Why Moral Paradoxes Support Error Theory (2023)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2023). Why Moral Paradoxes Support Error Theory. Journal of Philosophy, 120(9), 457-483. https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil2023120927

Moral error theory has many troubling and counterintuitive consequences. It entails, for example, that actions we ordinarily think of as obviously wrong are not wrong at all. This simple observation is at the heart of much opposition to error theory.... Read More about Why Moral Paradoxes Support Error Theory.

Confidence of Life Detection: The Problem of Unconceived Alternatives (2023)
Journal Article
Vickers, P., Cowie, C., Dick, S. J., Gillen, C., Jeancolas, C., Rothschild, L. J., & McMahon, S. (online). Confidence of Life Detection: The Problem of Unconceived Alternatives. Astrobiology, 23(11), https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2022.0084

Potential biosignatures offering the promise of extraterrestrial life (past or present) are to be expected in the coming years and decades, whether from within our own solar system, from an exoplanet atmosphere, or otherwise. With each such potential... Read More about Confidence of Life Detection: The Problem of Unconceived Alternatives.

What are Paradoxes? (2022)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2023). What are Paradoxes?. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 9(1), 154-171. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2021.48

According to a standard view, paradoxes are arguments with plausible premises that entail an implausible conclusion. This is false. In many paradoxes the premises are not plausible precisely because they entail an implausible conclusion. Obvious resp... Read More about What are Paradoxes?.

Arguing About Extraterrestrial Intelligence (2022)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2023). Arguing About Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Philosophical Quarterly, 73(1), 64-83. https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqac009

Avi Loeb has defended the hypothesis that the interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua, detected in 2017, is in fact an extraterrestrial artefact. His hypothesis has been widely rejected by the scientific community. On examination however it is not clear why.... Read More about Arguing About Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Do Constitutive Norms on Belief Explain Moore's Paradox? (2019)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2020). Do Constitutive Norms on Belief Explain Moore's Paradox?. Philosophical Studies, 177(6), 1685-1702. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-019-01280-6

In this article I assess the prospects for a particular kind of resolution to Moore’s Paradox. It is that Moore’s Paradox is explained by the existence of a constitutive norm on belief. I focus on a constitutive norm relates that relates belief to kn... Read More about Do Constitutive Norms on Belief Explain Moore's Paradox?.

Poorer without It? The Neglected Role of the Natural Environment in Poverty and Wellbeing (2017)
Journal Article
Schleicher, J., Schaafsma, M., Burgess, N. D., Sandbrook, C., Danks, F., Cowie, C., & Vira, B. (2018). Poorer without It? The Neglected Role of the Natural Environment in Poverty and Wellbeing. Sustainable Development, 26(1), 83-98. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1692

The relationship between sustainable development’s prime goal, human wellbeing, and the natural environment has been narrowly conceived. This paper focuses on the possibility and the implications of treating the natural environment as a ‘constituent’... Read More about Poorer without It? The Neglected Role of the Natural Environment in Poverty and Wellbeing.

Does the repugnant conclusion have any probative force? (2016)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2017). Does the repugnant conclusion have any probative force?. Philosophical Studies, 174(12), 3021-3039. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-016-0844-7

In engaging with the repugnant conclusion many contemporary philosophers, economists and social scientists make claims about what a minimally good life is like. For example, some claim that such a life is quite good by contemporary standards, and use... Read More about Does the repugnant conclusion have any probative force?.

Is the Norm on Belief Evaluative? A Response to McHugh (2016)
Journal Article
Greenberg, A., & Cowie, C. (2017). Is the Norm on Belief Evaluative? A Response to McHugh. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 98(S1), 128 - 145. https://doi.org/10.1111/papq.12158

We respond to Conor McHugh's claim that an evaluative account of the normative relation between belief and truth is preferable to a prescriptive account. We claim that his arguments fail to establish this. We then draw a more general sceptical conclu... Read More about Is the Norm on Belief Evaluative? A Response to McHugh.

Conservatism in Metaethics: A Case Study (2015)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2015). Conservatism in Metaethics: A Case Study. Metaphilosophy, 46(4-5), 605-619. https://doi.org/10.1111/meta.12159

Metaethicists typically develop and assess their theories—in part—on the basis of the consistency of those theories with “ordinary” first-order normative judgment. They are, in this sense, “methodologically conservative.” This article shows that this... Read More about Conservatism in Metaethics: A Case Study.

Good News for Moral Error Theorists: A Master Argument Against Companions in Guilt Strategies (2015)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2016). Good News for Moral Error Theorists: A Master Argument Against Companions in Guilt Strategies. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 94(1), 115-130. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2015.1026269

Moral error theories are often rejected by appeal to ‘companions in guilt’ arguments. The most popular form of companions in guilt argument takes epistemic reasons for belief as a ‘companion’ and proceeds by analogy. I show that this strategy fails.... Read More about Good News for Moral Error Theorists: A Master Argument Against Companions in Guilt Strategies.

A New Explanatory Challenge for Nonnaturalists (2014)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2014). A New Explanatory Challenge for Nonnaturalists. Res Philosophica, 91(4), 661-679. https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2014.91.4.3

According to some contemporary nonnaturalists about normativity (e.g., Parfit, Scanlon, Dworkin), normative facts exist in an ontologically non-committing sense. These nonnaturalists face an explanatory burden. They must explain their claim that norm... Read More about A New Explanatory Challenge for Nonnaturalists.

In defence of instrumentalism about epistemic normativity. (2014)
Journal Article
Cowie, C. (2014). In defence of instrumentalism about epistemic normativity. Synthese, 191(16), 4003-4017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-014-0510-6

According to epistemic instrumentalists the normativity of evidence for belief is best explained in terms of the practical utility of forming evidentially supported beliefs. Traditional arguments for instrumentalism—arguments based on naturalism and... Read More about In defence of instrumentalism about epistemic normativity..