Neil McArthur Neil McArthur
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Associate Director, Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics
Ph.D. (University of Southern California)
M.A. (University of Western Ontario)
B.A. (McGill University)

Office: 457 University College
Telephone: (204) 474-9105
Email: mcarthun[at]cc[dot]umanitoba[dot]ca

About Me

I teach courses in the philosophy of law, continental philosophy, political philosophy, moral philosophy, the philosophy of human rights, and the history of philosophy. I am also Associate Director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics. Along with my colleague Steven Lecce, I assist the Centre's Director, Arthur Schafer, in his important work teaching, researching and promoting awareness of ethical issues of vital interest to students, fellow academics, and the public. In addition to our course offerings, the Centre holds numerous lectures and discussions open to the general public, and we provide advice and support to other faculties and to outside organisations. You can get regular updates on our activities through Facebook.

I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the political theory of David Hume. Hume is a Scottish philosopher who lived during the eighteenth century -- he died a month after America's Declaration of Independence (the principles of which he supported), and almost fifteen years before the French Revolution (which he probably would not have). I recently wrote a book titled David Hume's Political Theory. It argues that Hume is not as conservative a political thinker as many people have often taken him to be. You can read the introductory chapter here, and published reviews here. I also recently wrote the chapter on "The Scottish Enlightenment" for the Oxford Handbook to the History of Political Philosophy.

I am currently teaching and blogging about sexual ethics and other issues in the philosophy of sexuality. You can read more here: morallust.com. Or you can follow me on Twitter: Twitter.com/MoralLust

I am also a film-maker. I recently completed two projects about the oil sands developments in Alberta and their impact on the aboriginal communities of the area. Land of Oil and Water, which I co-directed with Warren Cariou, had its world premiere at the DOXA Festival in Vancouver in May 2009. It has since screened at the ImagineNative Media Arts Festival (Toronto), the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, and several other festivals. It was nominated for a Golden Sheaf Award at the Yorkton International Film Festival. The HotDocs Festival in Toronto selected it for inclusion in their 2010 "Docs for Schools" programme, which screened selections from their festival to over 50,000 students in over 250 Ontario schools. The list of selections is here; the poster for our film is here. In June 2009 Warren and I premiered our short film Overburden at the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival. It has since screened at numerous festivals, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, Cinefest Sudbury and the Winnipeg Film Group's Gimme Some Truth Festival. It won the award for best short film at the 2010 Columbia Native American Indian Film and Video Festival of the Southeast, at the University of South Carolina. It aired on APTN in January 2012. You can view the website for these two films (which includes information on purchasing a DVD that includes both of them) at landofoil.com. You can see the trailer here. My short film "The History of Stand-Up Comedy" premiered in August 2011 at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film stars this dude:





I am a member of the Winnipeg Film Group and Video Pool.



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