Ewan Kingston

Assistant Professor

Address: 16 Glebe Street, Room 300
Phone: 843.953.5687
E-mail: kingstoned@cofc.edu
Personal Website: https://ewan-kingston.net


Ewan Kingston joined the department as Assistant Professor in August 2021.

In his own words

My research concerns the political ethics of unofficial actors with regard to pressing global issues. Complex problems such as combating climate change and seeking labor and environmental standards in global supply chains are hard for sovereign states to solve alone. In response, unofficial political actors try to respond appropriately to these problems. These actors include firms, their investors, employees, and customers, and non-profit organizations. When they do so, they take political positions and (I argue) become subject to special ethical standards that apply to political actors engaging with one another on complex and contested issues. I ask what such standards might look like in practice, given the distinct epistemic and motivational profile of each kind of actor. 

Education

Ph.D., Philosophy, Duke University
B.A. and M.A., Philosophy, Victoria University of Wellington
B.A., English, University of Otago

Research Interests

  • Environmental ethics and politics
  • Political philosophy
  • Business ethics
  • International ethics

Publications

(forthcoming) International Law as a Basis for a Feasible Ability-to-pay Principle’ in Corey Katz and Sarah Kenehan (eds) Climate Justice and Feasibility, Routledge

(2021) The Ethics of Price-gouging in a Global Pandemic. Business Ethics Quarterly Published online ahead of print [equal co-author, with Kobi Finestone] [open access]

(2020) Shopping with a Conscience? The Epistemic Case for Relinquishment Over Conscientious Consumption. Business Ethics Quarterly Published online ahead of print (1-33) [open access]

(2019) After Katowice: Three Civil Society Strategies for Ratcheting Up Climate Ambition. Ethics and International Affairs (online exclusive, open access) January, 2019

(2018)  What’s wrong with joyguzzling? Ethical Theory and Moral Practice  (open-access pre-publication version: link). [Lead author, with Sinnott-Armstrong, W.]

(2016) Clustering countries, changing climates: an NGO review to close the ambition gap. Ethics and International Affairs (online exclusive, open access)

(2014) Climate justice and temporally remote emissions. Social Theory and Practice 40(2) 281-303.  (open access pre-publication version: link)

(2014) Climate change as a three-part ethical problem: A reply to  Jamieson and Gardiner. Journal of Science and Engineering Ethics. 20(4) 1129-148 (open access pre-publication version link).