Dr. Claire Benn
[email protected]
vanleer.academia.edu/ClaireBenn
clairebenn.wordpress.com
The Polonsky Academy
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
43 Jabotinsky Street
Jerusalem
9214116
Israel
CURRENT RESEACH
Polonsky Fellow, Polonsky Academy, Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, Oct 2014-prsent
Israel
Research: Artificial Goodness: Doing and Being Good in the Digital Age
Much of the current debate in the ethics of technology has focused on the ways in which
innovations in technology provides opportunities for us to act in wrong and impermissible
ways. I propose to assess, in relation to the rapidly developing technologies of artificiality,
whether these innovations equally can lead to ‘real’ changes in the opportunities, means and
nature of what it is to be and to do good. I propose to do this by exploring three areas, asking
in each whether there really is a distinction to be drawn between doing good and ‘merely’
seeming to be good: virtual realities, robotic agents and responsibility to, as well as for,
technological artefacts. I have begun by examining the dark side of emerging technologies.
I am currently working on a manuscript: Virtual Child Pornography: Victims, Images,
Fictions. This will allow me to assess dimensions of moral assessments when it comes to
virtual images and virtual worlds.
EDUCATION
Awarded 19th July 2014
Ph.D., University of Cambridge
Thesis: The Nature and Value of the Supererogatory
My thesis explores the concept of the supererogatory: actions that go above and beyond
the call of duty. I develop my own account of the conditions under which an action is
supererogatory. Additionally, I give an account of the value of the supererogatory and
why room must be made for such actions in our ethical theories.
Examiners: Professor Richard Holton and Professor Michael Clark
Supervisors: Professor Rae Langton and Professor Hallvard Lillehammer
Shadow Supervisor: Dr Paulina Sliwa
M.Phil., University of Cambridge
Awarded: High Pass overall and a First for my thesis
Thesis: A Comprehensive Account of Forgiveness
Examiners: Professor Tim Crane and Professor Jane Heal
October 2009 – July 2010
Dr. Claire Benn - CV
October 2006 – June 2009
B.A., hons., University of Cambridge
Awarded: a First in all three years, including my third-year dissertation The Demands of
Beneficence: Can Murphy’s Collective Principle of Beneficence give a plausible account
of beneficence?
RESEACH INTERESTS
Area of Specialisation
Ethics, Philosophy of Technology
Areas of Competence
Political Philosophy, Philosophical Logic and Introductory Formal Logic
PRIZES AND RESEACH AWARDS
Research Awards
Crausaz-Wordsworth PhD Studentship
Cambridge Home and European Scholarship Scheme (CHESS)
Onora O'Neill Studentship
Allen Meek and Read Bursary
Prizes
A Robins Prize for Exceptional Performance and a College Prize
A Foundation Scholarship and a College Prize
A Scholarship and a College Prize
2010-2013
2010-2013
2009-2010
2009-2010
2009
2008
2007
PAPERS
‘Over-Demandingness Objections and Supererogation’
Published in The Limits of Moral Obligation: Moral Demandingness and Ought Implies
Can, ed. Marcel van Ackeren and Michael Kühler, (Routledge, 2016).
See
https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138824232
‘What is Wrong with Promising to Supererogate’
Philosophia (March 2014) Volume 42, Issue 1. DOI 10.1007/s11406-013-9480-z, for full
text see http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11406-013-9480-z#
‘Psychological Perfectionism and the Paradox of Obligation’
CAPE Studies in Applied Philosophy and Ethics, 2014
2.
Dr. Claire Benn - CV
SELF-PUBLISHED
‘Tackling the Philosophy Essay: A Student Guide ‘
Co-written with Christina Cameron, Amanda Cawston, and Shyane Siriwardena.
The guide is published under Creative Commons and can be found at
http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/curr-students/IA/curr-students/writing-skils/ as the Faculty’s
primary writing guide for undergraduates. I have created the eBook version (ePub and
MOBI formats), soon to be available on Amazon.
INVITED TALKS (SELECTED)
Supererogation and Forgiveness
Supererogation: Concept and Context, University of Basel, Switzerland
2015
Life without the Supererogatory
The Philosophy Faculty Colloquium, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Israel
2015
Defining Supererogation
The Centre for Moral and Political Philosophy, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Israel
2015
Going beyond the Call of Duty
The Polonsky Seminar, The Polonsky Academy, The Van Leer Jerusalem
Institute, Israel
2015
Psychological Perfectionism and the Paradox of Obligation
The Kyoto Workshops on Ethics and Well-being, Kyoto University, Japan
2013
The Nature of Supererogatory Acts
The Inaugural Session of the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Ethics (CAPE),
Kyoto University, Japan
2013
Supererogatory Acts: Optional and Good
The Moral Sciences Club, University of Cambridge
2013
3.
Dr. Claire Benn - CV
CONFERENCE AND SEMINAR TALKS (SELECTED)
Supererogatory Spandrels
Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference on Supererogation, University College
Dublin
2014
The Paradox of Obligation
Cambridge Graduate Seminar, Cambridge
2013
The Value of Supererogatory Acts
Understanding Value Conference, University of Sheffield
2013
What is Wrong with Promising to Supererogate
The Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and Mind Conference, University of
Exeter
2013
Supererogatory Spandrels
The Limits of Duty Workshop, University of Cambridge
2013
Supererogatory Spandrels
Cambridge Graduate Seminar, Cambridge
2013
Supererogation, Parrots and Expectations
Cambridge Graduate Seminar, Cambridge
2012
Praise, Blame and Supererogation
Cambridge Graduate Seminar, Cambridge
2011
ORGANISATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Co-Creator and Coordinator, Women in Philosophy Group Jerusalem, 2014-present
Jerusalem
Coordinator and Chair, The Polonsky Philosophy Seminar, Jerusalem
2014-present
Cybersmith, in charge of the website and online profile for BSET: British 2014-present
Society for Ethical Theory
Coordinator and Chair, The Philosophy Graduate Seminar, Cambridge
2014
4.
Dr. Claire Benn - CV
Interviewer as part of the selection process for prospective undergraduates, on
behalf of Homerton College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge
2013
Organiser, Chair and Fundraiser, The Limits of Duty Workshop, Cambridge
2013
Organiser, Chair and Fundraiser, Alterity, Intersubjectivity, Ethics: Exploring
Theoretical Directions for the Study of Ethics and Morality, Cambridge
2013
Co-Creator, Organiser, and Instructor, The Essay Writing Workshop, a
workshop on essay-writing skills for first year students. Additionally, coproduced Tackling the Philosophy Essay, an extensive guide on writing
philosophy essays and a primary resource for students at the Faculty of
Philosophy, University of Cambridge.
2013
Coordinator and Chair, The Cambridge Women in Philosophy Group
2011-2013
Organiser and Secretary, The Moral Sciences Club, Cambridge
2011-2012
Supervisor Assessor, as part of the Supervisor Appraisal Scheme, I sat in on
supervisions given by graduate supervisors and gave feedback to them,
aiming to increase student satisfaction with teaching provision by the
faculty as well as to facilitate the sharing of good teaching practices
amongst supervisors.
2011-2013
TEACHING
Lecturing
The Non-Identity Problem (Third Year Ethics and Political Philosophy students
and MPhil students)
A lecture on the history of Utilitarianism for MASSOLIT, a provider of online
lecturers, as part of a series of lectures covering Bertrand Russell’s History
of Western Philosophy.
2012
2014
Supervising
Ethics (First, Second and Third Year)
Political Philosophy (First, Second and Third Year)
Logic (First and Second Year)
Extended essays in ethics (Second and Third Year)
Dissertations in ethics (Third Year)
2011-2014
2010-2014
2010-2013
2013-2014
2013-2014
Seminars/Discussion Groups/Classes
Ethics and Political Philosophy (First Year)
Metaphysics and Mind (First Year)
Formal logic (First Year)
2010-2012
2010-2012
2010-2012
5.
Dr. Claire Benn - CV
2013
Essay-Writing Workshop
Organised, planned and taught a workshop on essay writing skills for first year students
Work with Sixth-Formers
‘Introduction to Formal Logic’, Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnicity
(BAME) Summer School, Cambridge
‘Introduction to Ethics for Medical Students’, FE Summer School,
Cambridge
‘The Non-Identity Problem’, FE Summer School, Cambridge
‘Introduction to Ethics’, Philosophy and Theology Master Class, invited
by the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge
‘Being Good and Being Good Enough’, Access Philosophy Taster Day,
Robinson College, Cambridge
‘Supererogation; Formal Logic; The Non-Identity Problem’, Reach
Cambridge International Summer School
‘Introduction to Formal Logic’, Philosophy Taster Day, Newnham
College, Cambridge
‘Supererogation’, Philosophy Society and Judt Group, Emanuel School,
Battersea, London
‘Supererogation’, Reach Cambridge International Summer School
‘Introduction to Logic’, Sutton Trust Summer School
‘Pornography’, Hills Road Sixth-Form, Cambridge
2014
2014
2014
2014
2013
2013
2012; 2013
2012
2012
2012-2014
2011
6.