Philosopher

Saul Smilansky

I am a Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Haifa, Israel. I work primarily on normative and applied ethics, the free will problem, and meaning in life. In normative and applied ethics and MIL I am particularly interested in moral paradoxes and other forms of "Paradoxical Ethics" where matters seem to be true (or at least plausible) yet are also absurd, moral theory, justice, the role of self-deception and illusion in our lives, population ethics, punishment, moral complaint and hypocrisy, gratitude and contribution. On free will I have done various things. My main efforts have been, first, to open up the debate on the compatibility question to a pluralistic approach that sees both compatibilism and hard determinism (or other forms of free will and moral responsibility denialism) as partly valid and seeks to integrate them. Second, to explore Illusionism, the view that illusion is central and, in many ways, positive in the free will problem. I am the author of Free Will and Illusion (Oxford University Press 2000), 10 Moral Paradoxes (Blackwell 2007), which has been translated into 7 languages, Paradoxical Ethics (Oxford University Press 2026, forthcoming), and over one hundred papers in philosophical journals and edited collections.
I received my B.A. from Tel-Aviv University and my D.Phil from Oxford University (Magdalen College).

Recent Events

Recent Talks

St. Anne's College, Oxford, "Plumer Fellow Lecture," 28 February 2024: "What is Crazy Ethics and Why Does It Matter?"
Jurisprudence Discussion Group, Oxford University,25 April 2024: "Is There a Right to be Deterred?"
Lecture, Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Oxford University, 8 May 2024: "Radical Moral Pluralism: A Proposal."
Society of Applied Philosophy annual conference, Oxford; June 28-30 2024: "Is there a Right to be Deterred?"
Uehiro Oxford Institute, Oxford University, 4 December 2024: "It is Good that Things Go Badly".
Lecture, Center for Applied Philosophy & Ethics, Kyoto University, 7 August 2025: "What is Paradoxical Ethics and Why Does it Matter?".

Download CV

Some Recent Publications

"Overpunishment and the Punishment of the Innocent", Analytic Philosophy, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/phib.12235.
"Illusionism", in Derk Pereboom and Dana Nelkin, eds., Oxford Handbook of Moral Responsibility. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.
"Two Concepts of Effort", Philosophia 50 (2022): 2663-2673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-022-00494-z
"Paradoxes and Meaning in Life", in Iddo Landau, ed., Oxford Handbook for Meaning in Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
"Normative Pluralism and Autonomous Vehicles", in Ryan Jenkins, Tomáš Hříbek and David Černý, eds., AV Ethics: Beyond the Trolley Problem. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.
"Fortunate Misfortune Revisited: Further Reflections", Rocczniki Filozoficzne (Annals of Philosophy) 71 (2023): 93-108..
"Denialism", in Joe Campbell, Kristin M. Mickelson & V. Alan White, eds., the Blackwell Companion to Free Will. Wiley-Blackwell, 2023.
"Worship for Atheists", in Sam Lebens and Aaron Segal. eds., The Philosophy of Worship: Divine and Human Aspects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
"Reversing Pascal: Skepticism about Religious Belief and Its Value", Religious Studies 60 (2024): 160–173. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412522000592
"God as an Asset and Some Paradoxical Implications", Religious Studies 60 (2024): 193–203. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412523000082
"Denialism as a Dangerous Gamble", Diametros 79 (2024): 119–131.
"The Moral Duty Not to Confirm Negative Stereotypes", Journal of Moral Philosophy 21 (2024) 379–403.
"The Reality of Free Will", Rocczniki Filozoficzne (Annals of Philosophy), Rocczniki Filozoficzne (Annals of Philosophy) 72 (2024): 99–114..
"Suicide, Organ Donation and Meaning in Life: Some Disturbing Reflections" in Stephen Hetherington, ed., Extreme Philosophy. New York: Routledge, 2024.
"Further Thoughts on Compatibility Dualism", Belgrade Philosophical Annual, forthcoming.
PARADOXICAL ETHICS. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2026 (forthcoming).

Home: About Me