ANU-Humboldt-Princeton Summer Institute on Practical Normativity

Five ANU students made their way to Princeton University in August for the Summer Institute on Practical Normativity - which was jointly organised by the Humboldt University of Berlin, Princeton University, and ANU. The Institute featured two weeks of energetic and fruitful discussion about practical normativity (roughly, the area of philosophy concerned with what we should do and believe), facilitated by

Thomas Schmidt, Michael Smith and Felix Koch.

Students and faculty presented original papers and literature reviews about various topics - such as the difference between moral and non-moral reasons, the various theories of rational choice under uncertainty, and the basis and sources of normativity. We also heard talks by guest speakers Sharon Street (NYU) and Sarah McGrath (Princeton). The ANU contingent included Jesse Hambly, Josef Holden, Oliver Rawle, Timothy Williamson, and Shang Long Yeo.

Shang Yeo