Profile

Biography

Matt Matravers (BSc (Econ), PhD, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London) works on contemporary political and legal philosophy. He is particularly interested in three things: first, the relationship between theories of distributive justice (who gets what) and theories of retributive justice (accounts of the justifiability of punishment). This interest underpins his book, Justice and Punishment. Second, the idea of responsibility (again, in both distributive and retributive justice) and whether we can ever legitimately be held responsible for anything. This interest underpins a number of papers on the so-called ‘Equality of What?’ problem, and his recent book, Responsibility and Justice. Third, the problem of ‘dangerousness’, with particular reference to severely personality disordered people.

Personal website: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~mdm3/

Research

Overview

Research interests:

• Contemporary political and legal philosophy
• The philosophy of punishment.
• Personality Disorders, preventive detention, and dangerousness

Supervision

Matt Matravers would be interested in supervising research students on topics in contemporary political or legal philosophy. He has supervised students working on interspecies justice, consequentialism, and Republicanism. He is currently supervising:

• Britain Brady who works on contemporary legal philosophy and the connections between positivist theories of law and liberal pluralism.
• Harald Borgebund who works on the philosophical and applied thinking of Brian Barry.
• Alfonso Donoso who works on the criminal law in circumstances of pluralism.
• Tim Fowler who works on theories of education in circumstances of pluralism.

Publications

Selected publications

• 2007. Responsibility and Justice. Cambridge: Polity Press
• 2007. ‘Personality Disorders and Compulsory Detention' In R. Ashcraft et al, eds., Principles of Health Care Ethics, 2nd edition. Chichester: Wiley, pp.449-454
• 2006. ‘Who’s Still Standing?’ A Comment on Antony Duff’s Preconditions of Criminal Liability.’ Journal of Moral Philosophy 3(3): 320-330

External activities

Editorial duties

• Co-editor of Criminal Law and Philosophy
• Reviews editor for Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (CRISPP)
• Editorial board of Personality and Mental Health

Invited talks and conferences

Matt Matravers has given invited lectures and papers in the UK, USA, Italy and Korea.