Dr Sean Cordell

Professional biography

I was introduced to philosophy some years ago as a student here at the Open University, an experience from which, happily, I’ve never fully recovered. I completed my first degree in Humanities with Philosophy before moving to full time study at the University of Sheffield, where I completed a Masters then a PhD in philosophy. After that and before returning to the OU in 2013, I was a research fellow at the University of Birmingham and a lecturer at Sheffield.

Research interests

I wrote my doctoral thesis on contemporary political problems for neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, and have since been able to develop some of its themes through the intertwining strands of social and moral philosophy and applied ethics. I’ve a continuing interest in the ethical dimensions of social roles and of the ways that institutions do and should define these roles, and in the virtues (and vices) of social collectives. Alex Barber and I have recently completed an edited collection of fifteen papers  The Ethics of Social Roles published by Oxford University Press (2023). This comprises work developed in our AHRC funded  Role Ethics Network (2016-18), in which we brought together scholars and practitioners from around the world and across the disciplines of philosophy, political theory and social sciences for a series of workshops and a project conference. 

Graduate Supervision

Currently supervising:

Miranda Van De Heijning: 'Jobs Well Done: An Analysis of Moral Responsibility of Corporate Employees in the Light Of Collective Responsibility and Role Ethics'

Completed:

Ian Watson: 'A Mazzinian Inspired Moral Form of Partiality: Mfp-Patriotism.' (PhD, awarded 2023)

Jo Morrison: ' Anti-Doping Policy: The Emporor's New Clothes.' (Mphil, awarded 2022)

Brandon Robshaw 'Should a Liberal State Ban the Burqa?' (PhD, awarded 2019) 

Teaching interests

I currently teach on DA233 Investigating Philosophy, where I produced the module block on ethics and now lead on tutition. I have similar roles on on A853 and A854, parts 1 and 2 of the Philosophy MA, for which I wrote a section on Global Justice and a block of material on the political and moral problem of 'dirty hands'. I am also currently on the A111 Discovering the Arts and Humanities team. Previously I was on A222 Exploring Philosophy, and have had tuition responsibilities for DD103 Investigating the Social World.