Alfred Archer and Benjamin Matheson

Alfred Archer is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Tilburg University and a member of the Tilburg Center for Logic, Ethics, and Philosophy of Science. His primary research interests are in moral philosophy and moral psychology, particularly supererogation, the nature and ethics of admiration, and the ethics of fame. He also has research interests in applied ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of sport. He is currently working on a project investigating the nature, ethics and value of admiration, funded by an NWO Veni grant. For up-to-date information about his research, visit http://alfredarcher.weebly.com/.

Benjamin Matheson is a Humboldt Postdoctoral Language and Research Fellow based in LMU, Munich. From 1st April 2020 until 31st July 2020, he will be visiting the Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies where he will be a François Chevalier Fellow. From 1st September 2017 until 31st August 2019, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Practical Philosophy at Stockholm University with the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Practical Philosophy at the University of Gothenburg with the Gothenburg Responsibility Project.

Entries written by Alfred Archer and Benjamin Matheson

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Remembrance and Poppy Enforcement

By Alfred Archer and Benjamin Matheson

“Remembrance Sunday 2012 – Image 30” by Hammersmith & Fulham Council. Used under: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

In the United Kingdom, the red poppy is worn to remember those who have died fighting for the British Army. In 2018, over 50 million pounds was raised from sales of the red poppy. According to the Royal British Legion, the makers of the red poppies, wearing the poppy is not compulsory. Despite this, many people in the public eye have been criticized for not wearing one. So much so that in 2006, the news presenter Jon Snow wrote that: “There is rather unpleasant breed of poppy fascism out there – ‘he damned well must wear a poppy!’”. Snow is referring to the phenomenon of pressuring others to wear the red poppy – that is, pressuring others to engage in a commemorative practice.