Dr Benjamin Sachs

Senior Lecturer

Researcher profile

Phone

+44 (0)1334 464439

Email

bas7@st-andrews.ac.uk

Biography

Dr. Sachs was born and raised in San Diego, California.  He received a bachelor's degree at the University of Illinois and a PhD at the University of Wisconsin.  Prior to coming to St. Andrews he was an Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow in the Program in Environmental Studies and the Department of Bioethics at New York University, and prior to that a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health (U.S.).

Teaching

Dr. Sachs teaches classes on ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of law, animal ethics, philosophy of economics, and distributive justice.

Research areas

Dr. Sachs is writing a book on contractarianism.  The first half of the book argues that contractarianism should be deployed as a political morality--an explanation of what the state owes to its people and who its people are.  The second half of the book explores the implications of using contractarianism this way, focusing on political liberalism, legal moralism, and the political and legal standing of sentient animals.

Other topics in which Dr. Sachs has an active research interest are the ethics of research on human subjects and coercion.

PhD supervision

• Colin McLean

Selected publications

• Book review: Fourie, C., and A. Rid (eds) 2017. What is enough? Sufficiency, justice, and health. New York: Oxford University Press

  Sachs, B. A., Apr 2020, In : Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. 45, 2, p. 251-258

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Book/Film/Article review

• Scepticism about moral superiority

  Ball, D. N. & Sachs, B. A., 2019, In : Animal Sentience. 3, 23

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Comment/debate

• Teleological contractarianism

  Sachs, B., 18 Mar 2019, In : Journal of Social Philosophy. 50, 1, p. 91-112 22 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Uncivil society: how the political has become personal in our everyday lives

  Sachs, B., 15 Nov 2019, The Conversation.

  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication ? Article

• Editorial

  Sachs, B. A., 2018, In : Ethical Theory and Moral Practice.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Editorial

• Eight ethical questions about exploring outer space that need answers

  Sachs, B., 27 Jun 2018, The Conversation.

  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication ? Article

• Humans, aliens, and the big ethical questions

  Sachs, B., 1 Jun 2018, In : Astronomy & Geophysics. 59, 3, p. 41-42 2 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Letter

• Explaining right and wrong: a new moral pluralism and its implications

  Sachs, B. A., 30 Nov 2017, New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 187 p. (Routledge studies in ethics and moral theory; vol. 43)

  Research output: Book/Report ? Book

• Fair equality of opportunity in our actual world

  Sachs, B., 8 Jan 2017, In : Theory and Research in Education. 14, 3, p. 277-294 18 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• III - Contractarianism as a political morality

  Sachs, B. A., 26 May 2016, In : Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. 161, I, p. 49?67

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

See more publications