Dr Emily McTernan

Associate Professor in Political Theory
Room: 4.02, 29/30 Tavistock Square
Email: e.mcternan@ucl.ac.uk
Website

 

Biography

I am an Associate Professor in Political Philosophy at the Department of Political Science/School of Public Policy, UCL, and the co-host of the department’s podcast, UCL Uncovering Politics. I am an Area Editor at Ergo and Associate Editor of Politics, Philosophy, & Economics. I have held visiting positions in Philosophy, ANU and at ICREA, Pompeu Fabra University. 

My monograph, On Taking Offence (OUP, 2023), offers a novel analysis and a political and moral defence, of this neglected and much maligned social emotion. I have also published in Mind; Philosophy & Public Affairs; The Journal of Political Philosophy; Political Studies; and The Journal of Moral Philosophy; amongst other venues. I won the 2021 Early Career Prize of the Britain and Ireland Association for Political Thought. My research has been supported by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship, and funding awards from the Templeton Trust, the Society for Applied Philosophy, and the British Academy. 

I have taught a range of topics across ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of science. Currently, I run courses on the ethics and politics of social science, on political philosophy, and, from next year, on the philosophy and ethics of emotions. Last year I was nominated for a student choice award for inspiring teaching. I have supervised four PhD students to completion, all currently in academic careers, and ran the MA in Legal and Political Theory for six years.

Research

I’m a political philosopher of the social world. My research explores the ethics and politics of our interactions; our social norms and social emotions; and equality and the nature of injustice and hierarchy. I’ve written about these themes on topics including microaggressions, the emotion of offence, civic education, freedom of association and heckling, the value of encounters, the ethics of humour, and theories of egalitarianism. Sometimes, I also write about bioethics, especially where it intersects with social injustices and on fertility treatment.

Currently I am working on two projects: 
(1) Freedom, the Value of Association, and Spaces of Association. Addressing the value and nature of our associations promises to illuminate contemporary issues from the ethics of sexual advances, to no platforming protests and the design of hospitals. You can read its first publications, ‘Against Visitor Bans’ and ‘Heckling, Free Speech, and Free Association’ or read about my new collaborative project with Professor Ben Colburn and Dr Jane Clossick: ‘Spaces of Birth and Death’.
(2) A new monograph on social equality, hierarchy, and the significance of social norms and everyday interactions. As a short slogan, my argument is, ‘more Goffman, less Kant’ and you can see a small part of this work defending the significance of microaggressions in structures of social inequality: Microaggressions, Equality, and Social Practices and In the eyes of the beholders. 
 

Publications

Books

• McTernan, E. (2023) On Taking Offence. Oxford University Press.

Journal articles

• McTernan, E. (In press) 'The ethics of offensive jokes: Punching down and the duties of comedians'. Philosophy.
• McTernan, E., (2024) 'Freedom, Spontaneity, and Our Encounters', Political Philosophy 1(2). 
• McTernan, E. (2024) 'In Defence of Taking Offence: A reply to my critics'. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, pp. 1–11.
• McTernan, E and Simpson, R. (2023) 'Hecklers, free speech, and freedom of association'. Mind. fzad049 https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzad049
• McTernan, E. (2023) 'In the eyes of the beholders: Microaggressions, lived experience, and the collective'. Analysis, 83 (2), 329–34. 
• McTernan, E. (2023) ‘Against Visitor Bans: Freedom of Association, COVID-19 and the Hospital Ward’, Journal of Medical Ethics, 49, pp. 288–291.
• McTernan, E. (2021) ‘Taking Offense: An Emotion Reconsidered’, Philosophy & Public Affairs, 49(2), pp. 179–208.
• Barry, C. and McTernan, E. (2021) ‘A Puzzle of Enforceability: Why do Moral Duties Differ in their Enforceability?’, Journal of Moral Philosophy, 19, pp. 229–253
• McTernan, E. (2019) ‘Justice, Feasibility, and Social Science as it is’, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 22, pp. 27–40.
• McTernan, E. (2018) ‘Microaggressions, Equality, and Social Practices’, Journal of Political Philosophy, 26(3), pp. 261–281.
• McTernan, E. (2018) ‘Uterus Transplants and the Insufficient Value of Gestation’, Bioethics, 32, pp. 481– 488.
• McTernan, E. (2016) ‘How to be a Responsibility-sensitive Egalitarian: From Metaphysics to Social Practice’, Political Studies, 64(3), pp. 748–764.
• McTernan, E. (2015) ‘Should Fertility Treatment be State Funded?’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 32, pp . 227–240.
• McTernan, E. (2014) ‘How to Make Citizens Behave: Social Psychology, Liberal Virtues, and Social Norms’, Journal of Political Philosophy, 22(1), pp. 84–104.
• McTernan, E. (2013) ‘The Inegalitarian Ethos: Incentives, Respect, and Self-Respect’, Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 12(1), pp. 93–111.

Book chapters

• McTernan, E. (2022) ‘Moral Character, Liberal States, and Civic Education’, in M. Vargas, and J. M. Doris (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Moral Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• McTernan, E. (2018) ‘Those Who Forget the Past: An Ethical Challenge from the History of Treating Deviance’, in D. Birks and T. Douglas (eds.)  Treatment for Crime: Philosophical Essays on Neurointerventions in Criminal Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Other articles

• McTernan, E. (2022) ‘Why Hospitals Should Not Ban Visitors’, Blog: Journal of Medical Ethics.
• McTernan, E. (2020) ‘Why Offence is Good’, Institute of Art and Ideas.
• McTernan, E., O’Neill, M., Schemmel, C. and Schuppert, F. (2016) ‘If You Care About Social Equality, You Want a Big State’, Juncture, 23, pp. 138–144.
• McTernan, E. (2016) ‘Rescuing Responsibility for the Left’, Juncture, 22, pp. 298–303.
• McTernan, E. (2015) ‘Should the State Pay for you to Have Kids?’, Forum for European Philosophy Blog.

Teaching

I teach the postgraduate modules ‘Meanings of Liberty’ and ‘Contemporary Political Philosophy II’, and the undergraduate module ‘Philosophy, Values, and the Social Sciences’.

I am currently supervising PhD students working on social equality and dementia, and on republicanism. My supervision interests are: equality (particularly relational/social egalitarianism and distributive justice); responsibility; political emotions; social norms and social practices; civic virtue and citizenship; freedom of association; political theory and architecture; and fertility treatments.

Public appearances (external)

Podcast Interviews
New Books Network Podcast - On Taking Offence
The Prindle Institute For Ethics Podcast - Taking Offence With Emily McTernan
Prairie Public Radio - Why? Philosophical Discussions about Everyday Life

Videos
Harvard's Ethics Centre Channel - On Giving and Taking Offence

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