O. S. O’Neill was born in Northern Ireland, the daughter of reknowned linguist Rosemary Garvey and a British army officer, civil servant and diplomat, Sir Con Douglas Walter O'Neill.
Having grown up in post-war UK, O'Neill says issues of political conflict impact her thinking and reasoning even when she was very young, but that she cannot say that terms like “global justice” were yet in fashion.
"Of course, I was very small during the Second World War." -- whereas Paul Grice fought there, poor soul!
"And I think the influence on me was largely that we moved very frequently."
"After the War my father left the army, and, at a certain point, he was re-employed in relations with Germany, first as the British liaison officer with some American-controlled mission."
"So when I was six I went to Frankfurt and I learnt German -- which will come helpful to me when I came to work on Kant." O. T. O. H., Grice had to rely on translation!
"Political conflict was all around in the war- AND the post-war period."
"I don’t think anyone would have talked about global justice at the time."
"What was going on, was the parallel movement that led to the setting up of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations and the European Convention on Human Rights by the Council of Europe."
"So, there was a great deal that now forms the standard institutional back-drop to discussions of global justice going on."
"But I have to say I was wholly unaware of it."
"As for “morality,” this was long ago, and people still thought that duty was the fundamental category in which one would think about the question: “What ought we do?”. I mean, I was brought up a deontologist, not a mere Aristotelian teologist (That's why Grice charms me with his Kantotle).
Having grown up in post-war UK, O'Neill says issues of political conflict impact her thinking and reasoning even when she was very young, but that she cannot say that terms like “global justice” were yet in fashion.
"Of course, I was very small during the Second World War." -- whereas Paul Grice fought there, poor soul!
"And I think the influence on me was largely that we moved very frequently."
"After the War my father left the army, and, at a certain point, he was re-employed in relations with Germany, first as the British liaison officer with some American-controlled mission."
"So when I was six I went to Frankfurt and I learnt German -- which will come helpful to me when I came to work on Kant." O. T. O. H., Grice had to rely on translation!
"Political conflict was all around in the war- AND the post-war period."
"I don’t think anyone would have talked about global justice at the time."
"What was going on, was the parallel movement that led to the setting up of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations and the European Convention on Human Rights by the Council of Europe."
"So, there was a great deal that now forms the standard institutional back-drop to discussions of global justice going on."
"But I have to say I was wholly unaware of it."
"As for “morality,” this was long ago, and people still thought that duty was the fundamental category in which one would think about the question: “What ought we do?”. I mean, I was brought up a deontologist, not a mere Aristotelian teologist (That's why Grice charms me with his Kantotle).
Hungry for philosophy
After St. Paul's, O’Neill studies at Oxford before attending Harvard , where she completed her PhD under Rawls.
In the 1970s she taught at Barnard College, Columbia, before returning to the Old World upon her appointment as Professor of Philosophy at Essex.
However, believe it or not, she did not set out to study philosophy and Kant, and as an undergraduate she had originally enrolled to study history.
In the 1970s she taught at Barnard College, Columbia, before returning to the Old World upon her appointment as Professor of Philosophy at Essex.
However, believe it or not, she did not set out to study philosophy and Kant, and as an undergraduate she had originally enrolled to study history.
"I came to think that I was not cut out to be a historian."
"I was quite interested in arguments and qualities of arguments."
"I had a number of friends who were doing philosophy."
"And then there was Grice."
"It turned out that those were the questions that interested me the most."
"I don’t think I entirely pleased my history don when I told them I was minded to change."
"BUT I was sent to see the philosophy tutor at Somerville, who happened to be none other than G. E. M. Anscombe (or "Mrs. Geach," as we affectionately referred to as) -- one who Grice said was never admitted to the Play Group's meetings -- along with Murdoch and Dummett -- and, anyway, we had a conversation about causality."
"Grice will surprisingly later rely on Somerville brain when discussing Mrs. J. Rowntree Jacks's "The rights and wrongs of Grice on meaning."!
"Anyway. I disgress. I am told Anscombe wrote a very short note to her colleagues on the governing body, saying, O'Neill is "hungry" for philosophy."
"So I was allowed to move, and I studied philosophy." "And that was that."
"I was quite interested in arguments and qualities of arguments."
"I had a number of friends who were doing philosophy."
"And then there was Grice."
"It turned out that those were the questions that interested me the most."
"I don’t think I entirely pleased my history don when I told them I was minded to change."
"BUT I was sent to see the philosophy tutor at Somerville, who happened to be none other than G. E. M. Anscombe (or "Mrs. Geach," as we affectionately referred to as) -- one who Grice said was never admitted to the Play Group's meetings -- along with Murdoch and Dummett -- and, anyway, we had a conversation about causality."
"Grice will surprisingly later rely on Somerville brain when discussing Mrs. J. Rowntree Jacks's "The rights and wrongs of Grice on meaning."!
"Anyway. I disgress. I am told Anscombe wrote a very short note to her colleagues on the governing body, saying, O'Neill is "hungry" for philosophy."
"So I was allowed to move, and I studied philosophy." "And that was that."
"As a student of philosophy I was not initially drawn to Kant -- my German-language knowledge, and all!"
"I think very few people are, because he seems difficult -- and as Grice would disimplicate: he _is_!"
"Still, I read one of Grice's favourites, Kant’s Groundwork of a Metaphysic of Morals very carefully, and I thought, “Well, done that, no more!”
"I think very few people are, because he seems difficult -- and as Grice would disimplicate: he _is_!"
"Still, I read one of Grice's favourites, Kant’s Groundwork of a Metaphysic of Morals very carefully, and I thought, “Well, done that, no more!”
However, O'Neill's interest in Kant, like Grice's and Judith Baker's for that matter, was soon piqued by fellow students and people in the Harvard faculty, such as Stanley Cavell, Robert Nozik and John Rawls.
Rawls becomes O'Neill's supervisor at Harvard. "At that time, people did not pursue a D. Phil., as they call it at the Dreaming Spires. Grice never got one!" "And his MA is Lit. Hum.!"
"The reason *I* started writing on Kant for my PhD was in a way anxiety and revulsion at the implications of models of, shall we say, rational choice (as in Grice's example, "Why bother with, 'My wife is either in the kitchen or in the garden'?), which were of course the going way, then quite the new way, of thinking about reason. So, I was fascinated when Grice came back to Oxford to lecture on aspects of reason and reasoning -- his John Locke lectures!
Rawls becomes O'Neill's supervisor at Harvard. "At that time, people did not pursue a D. Phil., as they call it at the Dreaming Spires. Grice never got one!" "And his MA is Lit. Hum.!"
"The reason *I* started writing on Kant for my PhD was in a way anxiety and revulsion at the implications of models of, shall we say, rational choice (as in Grice's example, "Why bother with, 'My wife is either in the kitchen or in the garden'?), which were of course the going way, then quite the new way, of thinking about reason. So, I was fascinated when Grice came back to Oxford to lecture on aspects of reason and reasoning -- his John Locke lectures!
Who is worthy of trust?
One of the topics on which O’Neill is regarded as an expert is the issue of what we may calll Warnockian "trust" (after Warnock's book on morality, G. J., that is, and which Grice read), and accountability.
O'Neill thinks people often confuse trust with whether or not people and institutions should be trusted.
O'Neill thinks people often confuse trust with whether or not people and institutions should be trusted.
"But of course, trustWORTHINESS, if a mouthful, is more important than mere Warnockian trust."
"Trust is the response, almost behavioural as in Chomsky's misunderstanding of Grice!"
"And the difficult thing about placing and refusing trust well, is that we want to align it with trustWORTHINESS."
As Grice said in his Oxford lectures on implicature back then, we want to trust trustworthy people.
And we want to align MIStrust with UNtrustworthiness."
"Trust, in my view, is a matter of judgement -- and rational one at that!"
"Unfortunately, a huge proportion of contemporary work on trust ignores trustWORTHINESS, and it tries to measure trust by asking people to say how much they trust people or institutions of certain sorts."
"I do not think such polls have no point."
"But they have absolutely no point as a way of finding out whether it is a good idea to place ones trust in complex matters, or to refuse it in complex matters."
"Whether measuring trust is a good idea depends on the context."
"Trust is the response, almost behavioural as in Chomsky's misunderstanding of Grice!"
"And the difficult thing about placing and refusing trust well, is that we want to align it with trustWORTHINESS."
As Grice said in his Oxford lectures on implicature back then, we want to trust trustworthy people.
And we want to align MIStrust with UNtrustworthiness."
"Trust, in my view, is a matter of judgement -- and rational one at that!"
"Unfortunately, a huge proportion of contemporary work on trust ignores trustWORTHINESS, and it tries to measure trust by asking people to say how much they trust people or institutions of certain sorts."
"I do not think such polls have no point."
"But they have absolutely no point as a way of finding out whether it is a good idea to place ones trust in complex matters, or to refuse it in complex matters."
"Whether measuring trust is a good idea depends on the context."
All the news that fit
O’Neill believes there are clear risks involved when the untrustworthy are trusted and the trustworthy are distrusted, something which is often seen in public life.
Large democracies nowadays do not depend upon local political meetings, but rather on nationally conducted campaigns.
These campaigns are conducted not only by the political parties, but also in many cases by people with ulterior interests.
"Also, one notes that social media, upon which some politicians rely a great deal, succeeds in spreading messages with none of the standards that one would traditionally have thought that journalists on the better newspapers sought to maintain."
"All those things we talk about, like fact checking, or like indicating whether something is an opinion piece or a report, those vanish."
"Moreover, since people can use social media in order to indicate what they approve of, certain claims get circulated way beyond their plausibility."
Large democracies nowadays do not depend upon local political meetings, but rather on nationally conducted campaigns.
These campaigns are conducted not only by the political parties, but also in many cases by people with ulterior interests.
"Also, one notes that social media, upon which some politicians rely a great deal, succeeds in spreading messages with none of the standards that one would traditionally have thought that journalists on the better newspapers sought to maintain."
"All those things we talk about, like fact checking, or like indicating whether something is an opinion piece or a report, those vanish."
"Moreover, since people can use social media in order to indicate what they approve of, certain claims get circulated way beyond their plausibility."
Human rights and state duties
O’Neill is highly regarded as a specialist on human rights.
She has written extensively on international justice and structural conditions of oppression.
She has argued that a progression towards global justice requires a shift in focus from rights to obligations and capacity, for both state actors and non-state actors.
She has written extensively on international justice and structural conditions of oppression.
She has argued that a progression towards global justice requires a shift in focus from rights to obligations and capacity, for both state actors and non-state actors.
"We have to ask ourselves why two millennia of European writing on ethics tended to put the notion of obligation or "duty" first, and would of course accept that some obligations had counterpart "rights."
"But by starting with the rights, you cut out all those obligations that do not have counterpart rights."
"Those are obligations that people traditionally would have thought covered things like obligations of beneficence or clemency or honesty and so on."
"Ah, I'm reminded of Grice's charming principle of self-love and benevolence!"
"So we cut down the range."
"But by starting with the rights, you cut out all those obligations that do not have counterpart rights."
"Those are obligations that people traditionally would have thought covered things like obligations of beneficence or clemency or honesty and so on."
"Ah, I'm reminded of Grice's charming principle of self-love and benevolence!"
"So we cut down the range."
"In human rights matters, it also tends to produce a rather unfortunate result if one assumes that everything should be done by the states."
"The states can do things that no other institutions can do."
"In particular, some states are pretty good at enforcing the laws that they enact, and pretty good at enacting laws."
"Think Germany! And "Three men on a bummel!"
"However, a large number of states fail in this way."
(Shall we think Ireland?)
"So we have a lot of rouge states that certainly don’t want to enforce human rights, and we have a lot of weak states that cannot enforce human rights."
"I therefore think that one has to think very carefully about “who ought to do what for whom?” – that is, about the duties."
"Just saying: “Oh, the state should—,” is not enough."
Like Thatcher says, there are individuals, and there are families!
"The states can do things that no other institutions can do."
"In particular, some states are pretty good at enforcing the laws that they enact, and pretty good at enacting laws."
"Think Germany! And "Three men on a bummel!"
"However, a large number of states fail in this way."
(Shall we think Ireland?)
"So we have a lot of rouge states that certainly don’t want to enforce human rights, and we have a lot of weak states that cannot enforce human rights."
"I therefore think that one has to think very carefully about “who ought to do what for whom?” – that is, about the duties."
"Just saying: “Oh, the state should—,” is not enough."
Like Thatcher says, there are individuals, and there are families!
Union without unity
As a crossbench member of the House of Lords, O’Neill is involved in debating the Brexit bill.
O'Neill is very much in favour of the UK remaining part of the EU.
But she thinks the EU has got itself into a very difficult position, and she is uncertain whether the Union is sustainable over time.
O'Neill is very much in favour of the UK remaining part of the EU.
But she thinks the EU has got itself into a very difficult position, and she is uncertain whether the Union is sustainable over time.
"The last time I was in Berlin, shortly before the referendum, I spoke with a lot of well placed people, and they said, “We hope you do not vote to exit in Britain."
""We need you in order to reform the EU.""
"Unfortunately, they also said, some of them, “—because the French are broken.”"
"And I think this is a very serious issue."
"Is the EU capable of reforming itself?"
"Or is it like the League of Nations?"
"It’s ominous, because, if it is like the League of Nations, there’s more difficulty to come."
Or not, of course, as Grice hopes! He LOVED Italy!
""We need you in order to reform the EU.""
"Unfortunately, they also said, some of them, “—because the French are broken.”"
"And I think this is a very serious issue."
"Is the EU capable of reforming itself?"
"Or is it like the League of Nations?"
"It’s ominous, because, if it is like the League of Nations, there’s more difficulty to come."
Or not, of course, as Grice hopes! He LOVED Italy!
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