Introduction
Jeff McMahan (born 30 August 1954) is White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford, and taught previously at Rutgers University (2003–2014) and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1986–2003).
He completed a BA degree in English literature at the University of the South (Sewanee), then did graduate work in philosophy at Corpus Christi College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He studied first under Jonathan Glover and Derek Parfit at the University of Oxford and was later supervised by Bernard Williams at the University of Cambridge, where he was a research fellow of St. John’s College from 1983 to 1986 and received his doctorate in 1986. He has written extensively on normative and applied ethics.
His publications include The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life (Oxford University Press, 2002), Killing in War (OUP, 2009), which argues against foundational elements of the traditional theory of the just war, The Morality of Nationalism (co-edited with Robert McKim, OUP, 1997), and Ethics and Humanity (co-edited with Ann Davis and Richard Keshen, OUP, 2010).
Selected bibliography
- The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life (Oxford University Press 2002) (ISBN 0-195-16982-4)
- Killing In War (Oxford University Press May 2009) (ISBN 0-199-54866-8)