Rate My Professor Phil Shields

Shields' scholarly interests encompass embodiment, normativity, and agency. He maintains that concepts of 'free will' and 'determinism' are each incoherent on their own terms. His current book project, Autonomy: Philosopher’s Stone or Will-’O-the-Wisp?, argues that autonomy represents a misguided modern ideal, as it cannot effectively promote either objective knowledge or authentic action, given the intrinsically social and value-laden character of normativity. Notable publications include “How Identity Politics Objectifies People and Undermines Rational Agency” in International Philosophical Quarterly 61 (2021): 463-480; “The Poverty of Patriarchal Power” in International Philosophical Quarterly 55 (2015): 101-120; “Rethinking Facts and Values: How Normativity Establishes the Fact of Values and the Value of Facts” in the Conference Proceedings (European Conference on Ethics, Religion, and Philosophy 2019: Value and Values); and “Maybe We Can—But Should We?” in Annual Proceedings of the Wealth and Well-Being of Nations, Volume 13 (2022-23).