Alan Brian Carter is the Professor of Moral Philosophy

Professor of Moral Philosophy, Glasgow

The Chair of Moral Philosophy is a professorship at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, which was established in 1727.The Nova Erectio of King James VI of Scotland shared the teaching of Moral Philosophy, Logic and Natural Philosophy among the Regents...

 at the University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

.

He earned a BA

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 at the University of Kent at Canterbury

University of Kent

The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...

, an MA

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 at the University of Sussex

University of Sussex

The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....

 and a DPhil

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 at St Cross College

St Cross College, Oxford

St Cross College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is an all-graduate college, sharing attractive, traditional-style buildings on a central site in St Giles', just south of Pusey Street...

 at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

.
Carter's first academic position was Lecturer in Political Theory at University College Dublin

University College Dublin

University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...

. He then became Head of the Philosophy Department at Heythrop College

Heythrop College

Heythrop College is the specialist philosophy and theology constituent college of the University of London situated in Kensington Square, Kensington, London. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in philosophy, theology and psychology, as well as research in related fields.It was founded...

, University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

. Subsequently, he was Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder

University of Colorado at Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...

. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...

 and at the University of Bucharest

University of Bucharest

The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...

. Carter is currently joint editor of the Journal of Applied Philosophy

Journal of Applied Philosophy

The Journal of Applied Philosophy is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society for Applied Philosophy and edited by Suzanne Uniacke . It covers a broad spectrum of issues in environment, medicine, science, policy, law, politics, economics, and education....

.

He works principally in political philosophy

Political philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...

, moral philosophy, and environmental philosophy

Environmental philosophy

Environmental philosophy is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the natural environment and humans' place within it. Environmental philosophy includes environmental ethics, environmental aesthetics, ecofeminism and environmental theology...

. Carter has published on a wide range of topics: within political philosophy he has written on political obligation, equality, and property rights; within environmental philosophy he has written on the moral status of both nonhuman animals and ecosystems; within applied ethics

Applied ethics

Applied ethics is, in the words of Brenda Almond, co-founder of the Society for Applied Philosophy, "the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular issues in private and public life that are matters of moral judgment"...

 he has written on problems regarding future persons and world hunger; within political theory he has written on theories of the state and Third World

Third World

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...

 underdevelopment; and within Marxism and Anarchism

Anarchism and Marxism

Anarchism and Marxism are similar political philosophies which emerged in the nineteenth century. While Anarchism and Marxism are both complex movements riven by internal conflict, as ideological movements their primary attention has been on human liberation achieved through political action...

 Carter has written on their respective theories of history. He is currently developing an environmentalist moral theory that is, normatively

Normative ethics

Normative ethics is the study of ethical action. It is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to act, morally speaking...

, value pluralist and, metaethically, projectivist

Projectivism

Projectivism in philosophy involves attributing qualities to an object as if those qualities actually belong to it. It is a theory for how people interact with the world, and has been applied in both ethics and general philosophy...

, topics he has previously written about in moral theory.

Some of Carter's work in environmental philosophy is discussed critically by Robin Attfield

Robin Attfield

Robin Attfield, MA , PhD has been Professor of Philosophy at Cardiff University since 1992.Robin Attfield read Greats at Christ Church and theology at Regent's Park College, Oxford....

. Carter's state-primacy theory has been discussed by Robyn Eckersley

Robyn Eckersley

Robyn Eckersley is a Professor and Head of Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia. She was previously a public lawyer, and a lecturer at Monash University until 2001...

 and criticized by John Barry

John Barry (politician)

John Barry is a former co-chair of the Green Party in Northern Ireland, which is a regional council of the all island Green Party formed in December 2006. He stood down as co-chair in April 2009, having held the position since 2003....

. and, most fully, by Simon Hailwood. Carter was one of the founder members of the London-based Anarchist Research Group. Colin Ward

Colin Ward

Colin Ward was a British anarchist writer. He has been called "one of the greatest anarchist thinkers of the past half century, and a pioneering social historian." -Life:...

 has described Carter, with Murray Bookchin

Murray Bookchin

Murray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist author, orator, and philosopher. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books on politics,...

, as one of the leading eco-anarchist thinkers.

Outside of academia, Carter is Chair of the World Development Movement Scotland

World Development Movement

The World Development Movement is a membership organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigns on issues of global justice and development in the Global South....

 and is on the Board of Directors of Friends of the Earth Scotland

Friends of the Earth Scotland

Friends of the Earth Scotland is an independent member of the Friends of the Earth international network of environmental organizations, and operates separately from Friends of the Earth in England, Wales and Northern Ireland . There is no single Friends of the Earth .Since 2011, Stan Blackley has...

. He is a former Board Member and a former Trustee of Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth (EWNI)

Friends of the Earth is one of 70 national groups around the world which make up the Friends of the Earth network of environmental organizations...

.

Publications

Carter's publications include over 50 articles in academic journals and he is the author of 3 books: (1999) (1988) (1987)

Selected articles

• "The problem of political compliance in Rawls's theories of justice: Parts I and II," The Journal of Moral Philosophy 3, 1 (2006): 7–21 and 3, 2 (2006): 135–157
• "A defense of egalitarianism," Philosophical Studies 131, 2 (2006): 269–302
• "Saving nature and feeding people," Environmental Ethics 26, 4 (2004): 339–60
• "Value-pluralist egalitarianism," Journal of Philosophy 99, 11 (2002): 577–99
• "Can we harm future people?" Environmental Values 10, 4 (2001): 429–454
• "Humean nature," Environmental Values 9, 1 (2000): 3–37
• "Analytical anarchism: some conceptual foundations," Political Theory 28, 2 (2000): 230–53
• "In defense of radical disobedience," The Journal of Applied Philosophy 15, 1 (1998): 29–47
• "Towards a green political theory" in Andrew Dobson and Paul Lucardie (edd.), The Politics of Nature: Explorations in Green Political Theory (London: Routledge, 1993), pp. 39–62

External links

• Alan Carter's homepage at the University of Glasgow
  University of Glasgow
  The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
  
  
• Alan Carter's webpage at Academia.edu
• Alan Carter's department page at the University of Glasgow
  University of Glasgow
  The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...