Dr Tyler Paytas

Dr Paytas' primary teaching and research interests are in ethics and the history of philosophy. He is especially interested in virtue theory and the emotions. The historical figures he focuses on are Plato, Epictetus, Kant, and Sidgwick. 

Dr Paytas earned a PhD in philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis in 2015. He holds a Certificate in University Teaching from the UM-St. Louis Center for Teaching & Learning and a Teaching Citation from Washington University. Prior to joining the ACU Western Civilisation program, he was a VolkswagenStiftung Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Stuttgart and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in ACU's Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry (2016-2018) and Dianoia Institute of Philosophy (2019-2020). He has published widely on topics in ethics and the history of philosophy in leading journals such as Philosophers' Imprint, Phronesis, and Faith and Philosophy. He is co-author of Plato's Pragmatism: Rethinking the Relationship between Ethics and Epistemology (Routledge, 2021).  

Dr Paytas serves on the advisory board of EthicsFinder, an expertly curated ethics search engine database hosted by ACU. He is the organizer of a Stoicism reading group that meets weekly and is open to everyone in the Sydney community. His current research projects include editing a special issue of Ethical Theory and Moral Practice on the topic of 'De-moralizing Ethical Theory'. His work in public engagement includes opinion pieces for ABC News and The Conversation as well as interviews on ABC RN's The Philosopher's Zone and God Forbid. 

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Monograph

Baima, Nicholas, and Tyler Paytas, Plato's Pragmatism: Rethinking the Relationship between Ethics and Epistemology, (New York: Routledge, 2021).

Edited Book

Paytas, Tyler, and Tim Henning, Kantian and Sidgwickian Ethics: The Cosmos of Duty Above and the Moral Law Within, (New York: Routledge, 2020).

Articles and Chapters

Paytas, Tyler, 'Be Not Afraid: The Virtue of Fearlessness', Philosophers' Imprint, 21:23 (2021), 1-13.

Paytas, Tyler, 'Human Rights and Liberal Values: Can Religion-Targeted Immigration Bans be Justified?', Ethics & Global Politics 14:2 (2021), 65-74.

Baima, Nicholas, and Tyler Paytas, 'True in Word and Deed: Plato on the Impossibility of Divine Deception', Journal of the History of Philosophy 58:2 (2020), 193-214.

Paytas, Tyler, 'Beneficent Governor of the Cosmos: Kant and Sidgwick on the Moral Necessity of God', in Kantian and Sidgwickian Ethics, ed. by Tyler Paytas and Tim Henning (New York: Routledge, 2020), pp. 210-244.

Paytas, Tyler, 'Of Providence and Puppet Shows: Divine Hiddenness as Kantian Theodicy', Faith and Philosophy 36:1 (2019), 56-80.

Paytas, Tyler, and Nicholas Baima, 'Intrinsic Valuing and the Limits of Justice: Why the Ring of Gyges Matters', Phronesis 64:1 (2019), 1-9.

Paytas, Tyler, 'God's Awful Majesty Before Our Eyes: Kant's Moral Justification for Divine Hiddenness', Kantian Review 22:1 (2017), 133-157.

Paytas, Tyler, 'Rational Beings with Emotional Needs: The Patient-Centred Grounds of Kant's Duty of Humanity', History of Philosophy Quarterly 32:4, (2015) 353-376.

Paytas, Tyler, 'Sometimes Psychopaths Get it Right: A Utilitarian Response to "The Mismeasure of Morals"', Utilitas 26:2 (2014), 178-191. 

Book Reviews

Paytas, Tyler, Review of The Case for Rage: Why Anger is Essential to Anti-Racist Struggle, by Myisha Cherry, Ethics (forthcoming).

Paytas, Tyler, Review of The Cosmos of Duty: Henry Sidgwick's Methods of Ethics, by Roger Crisp, Journal of Moral Philosophy 12:2 (2018), 233-236.

Paytas, Tyler, Review of Preferences and Well-Being, ed. by Serena Olsaretti, Journal of Value Inquiry 43:2 (2009), 273-279.

Moral Philosophy (Virtue Theory, Consequentialism), History of Philosophy (Plato, Stoicism, Kant, Sidgwick), Philosophy of Religion (Divine Hiddenness, Moral Theology)