Hybrid Workshop on Human Extinction

In policy and public debate it is typically assumed that human extinction would be a catastrophic outcome and that we have very strong reasons to prevent it if we can. But there is little reflection on what justifies this assumption. What exactly are the reasons to prevent human extinction – what would be bad about it? How weighty are these reasons – what costs should we be willing to bear in order to guard against the risk of extinction? These are ethical questions whose answers are far from obvious. It is questions like this that our workshop will address.

Speakers

Luke Elson (Reading) – in person

James Fanciullo (Lingnan University, Hong Kong) – online

Elizabeth Finneron-Burns (Western Ontario) – online

Andreas Mogensen (Oxford) – in person

Attendance is free and open to all but numbers for in-person attendance are limited. To register please email Lisa White ([email protected]) with the subject heading ‘Extinction workshop: in-person registration’ or ‘Extinction workshop: online registration’ by 31st August 2024.

Full details of programme, location, accessibility, etc., will be circulated in due course.

We are committed to the BPA/SWiP good practice scheme for conferences and seminar series.

The workshop is kindly supported by the Philosophy department, University of Southampton.