Mathea Slåttholm Sagdahl

• Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm (2023). Transgender Staff and Students. In Duarte, Melina; Losleben, Lisa Katrin & Fjørtoft, Kjersti (Ed.), Gender Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Academia A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Transformation. Routledge. ISSN 978-1-032-42638-9.
• Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm (2021). The Relevance of Noncomparability for Agency. Journal of Philosophical Research (JPR). ISSN 1053-8364. Online first. doi: 10.5840/jpr2021105178. Show summary

  In trying to decide between two choices, I might try to compare them in order to determine which alternative is better with respect to some appropriate choice value. But could it happen that the two choices fail to compare? Much of the debate about this question has centred on the issue of whether the items could be incomparable. If they are incomparable, then they fail to compare with respect to the relevant choice value. However, what has largely been neglected is the possibility that the choices fail to compare by instead being noncomparable. If they are noncomparable, then they are not covered by any appropriate choice value, such that the formal preconditions for a comparison does not obtain. This paper argues that the concept of noncomparability may be at least as important as that of incomparability for explaining why choices fail to compare, if they do.

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• Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm (2022). Normative Pluralism - Resolving Conflicts between Moral and Prudential Reasons. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-761469-3. 244 p. Show summary

  The potential conflicts between morality and self-interest lie at the heart of ethics. These conflicts arise because both moral and prudential considerations apply to our choices. A widespread assumption in philosophical ethics is that by weighing moral and prudential reasons against each other, we can compare their relative weights and determine what we ought to do in the face of such conflicts. While this assumption might seem innocuous and fruitful, a closer examination suggests that it lacks both justification and the necessary content that would allow it to do the normative work it promises. In this book, Mathea Slåttholm Sagdahl grapples with these cases of conflict, but argues that there may be no simple answer to the question of what we ought to do all things considered. Sagdahl argues against the assumption of comparability and defends an alternative pluralist theory of normativity where morality and prudence form two separate and incommensurable normative standpoints, much like in Henry Sidgwick's "Dualism of Practical Reason." This type of view has tended to be quickly dismissed by its opponents, but Sagdahl argues that the theory is in fact a well-motivated theory of normativity and that the typical objections that tend to target it are much weaker than they are usually thought to be.

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• Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm (2023). Sex as Material Reality (Keynote lecture). Show summary

  Trans people's entry into public life has challenged traditional ways of thinking about sex and gender as simple and binary categories. In the public conversation both in Norway and elsewhere in the world, this has met with a lot of opposition. Part of the resistance uses ideas of natural science and philosophy as weapons against newer understandings of gender that trans people are made to represent. In this context, trans perspectives on gender are described as a dogmatic ideology. "Gender-critical" debaters have argued that trans-inclusive language and perspectives on gender make invisible the material reality that constitutes sex. Certain gender-critical debaters also argue that such perspectives are based on a problematic Cartesian and substance dualist idea of gender. In this lecture, I will argue for an opposite conclusion. A precise and scientific use of language about sex and gender presupposes the perspectives and language practices that the gender-critical debaters argue against. The idea of sex as changeable, which is associated with trans perspectives, is necessary to avoid a substance dualist position and to be able to have a view of gender that respects a material and physical reality. Furthermore, I will argue that a view of gender that is based on material reality supports a trans-inclusive policy.

• Thorseth, May Britt; Fjørtoft, Kjersti; Cooper, Camilla C.; Waaler, Gudmund; Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm & Turi, Ole-Anders (2023). Oppenheimers dilemma. Dagsavisen. ISSN 1503-2892.
• Engebretsen, Elisabeth L.; Evang, Jenny Andrine Madsen; Skarstein, Karoline; Guldberg, Sverre Christoffer; Fedorczuk, Jonah & Stekl, Míša [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Panelsamtale: Kjønnsmangfold, en ny og radikal ideologi?
• Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm (2021). Melancholy as Responding to Reasons. International Journal of Philosophical Studies. ISSN 0967-2559. doi: 10.1080/09672559.2021.1936120.
• Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm (2019). Conscription as a Morally Preferable Form of Military Recruitment. Journal of Military Ethics. ISSN 1502-7570. doi: 10.1080/15027570.2019.1589766.
• Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm (2016). Enkratic Reasoning and Incommensurability of Reasons. Journal of Value Inquiry. ISSN 0022-5363. doi: 10.1007/s10790-015-9489-6.
• Sagdahl, Mathea Slåttholm (2014). The Argument from Nominal–Notable Comparisons, ‘Ought All Things Considered’, and Normative Pluralism. The Journal of Ethics. ISSN 1382-4554. doi: 10.1007/s10892-014-9179-9.

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