Stephen Finlay

Stephen Finlay is an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on metaethics, normative language, and philosophical logic, particularly exploring the semantics of normative terms like 'ought' and 'good.' He is the author of *Confusion of Tongues: A Theory of Normative Language* (Oxford, 2014), which argues for an end-relational analysis of normative language. His work bridges linguistics and ethics, addressing topics such as deontic modality, normative disagreement, and the role of context in moral discourse.

Finlay's research emphasizes the conversational and contextual dimensions of normative language, proposing unified frameworks to explain its diverse uses. He has contributed to debates on error theory, internalism vs. externalism about reasons, and the semantics of legal statements. His awards include the AJP Best Paper Award (2009) for his critique of moral error theory.

Key themes in his work include the analysis of normative concepts as relational, the role of conversational implicature in moral discourse, and the implications of contextualism for metaethical debates. His recent papers explore tensions in normativity debates and the pragmatic resolution of disagreement through perspectivist frameworks.