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94Natural Law and Practical RationalityMind 112 (447): 555-558. 2003.This essay argues that Mark C. Murphy's original contribution to natural law ethics succeeds in finding a way between older metaphysical and newer purely practical approaches in this genre. Murphy's reconstruction of the function argument, critique of subjectivist theories of well-being, and rigorous formulation of a flexible welfarist theory of value deserve careful attention. I defend Kant against Murphy's critique and argue that Murphy faces the problem of showing that all his basic goods are…Read more
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86The Domain of AuthorityPhilosophy 82 (1): 23-43. 2007.If the commands of authority are peremptory and content-independent directives, it is a great puzzle why any rational autonomous agent should accept them as morally binding, as Robert Paul Wolff and others have argued. I analyse the peremptory and content-independent quality of authoritative directives and argue that all earthly authorities operate within a specified domain. I investigate three candidates for the role of universally applicable boundary conditions–morality, harm to self, and absu…Read more
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80Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Hegel and the Philosophy of RightRoutledge. 2002.Hegel is one of the most important figures in the history of ideas and political thought. His _Philosophy of Right_ is widely recognised as one of the greatest works of political philosophy. _Hegel and the Philosophy of Right_ introduces and assesses: * Hegel's life and the background of the _Philosophy of Right_ * The ideas and text of the _Philosophy of Right_ * The continuing importance of Hegel's work to philosophy and political thought
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78Hegel as OrnithologistThe Owl of Minerva 42 (1-2): 225-227. 2010.Using a variet y of classical sources, we identify the Owl of Minerva as the European Little Owl (Athene noctua) and describe its habits. Our not-altogether- serious conclusion is that Hegel was wrong to state that the Owl of Minerva begins its flight only at the falling of the dusk.
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76Practical ReflectionPhilosophical Quarterly 40 (161): 524-527. 1990.“What do you see when you look at your face in the mirror?” asks J. David Velleman in introducing his philosophical theory of action. He takes this simple act of self-scrutiny as a model for the reflective reasoning of rational agents: our efforts to understand our existence and conduct are aided by our efforts to make it intelligible. Reflective reasoning, Velleman argues, constitutes practical reasoning. By applying this conception, _Practical Reflection_ develops philosophical accounts of int…Read more
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65Political PhilosophyRoutledge. 2001.This comprehensive introduction to the major thinkers and topics in political philosophy explores the philosophical traditions which continue to inform our political judgements. Dudley Knowles introduces the ideas of key political thinkers including Hobbes, Locke, Marx and Mill and influential contemporary thinkers such as Berlin, Rawls and Nozick. He outlines central problems in political philosophy and encourages the reader to critically engage with all the issues discussed. The individual cha…Read more
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60Robert Nozick: Property, Justice and the Minimal StatePhilosophical Quarterly 43 (173): 566. 1993.
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59Conservative UtilitarianismUtilitas 12 (2): 155. 2000.The resilience of utilitarian ethics in the face of unremitting criticism can be explained in part by its use of various strategies of indirect utilitarianism. The success of these strategies throws up a distinctive problem: how can one measure the utility of moral rules, large-scale social institutions or character traits distinctive of virtues? Reading Hume as a utilitarian of sorts in his treatment of justice, I explain his conservative endorsement of entrenched social practices as a conseque…Read more
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59Recent Work on HegelAn Interpretation of the Logic of Hegel.Hegel's Development: Night Thoughts .Hegel.Hegel's Concept of God.History and System: Hegel's Philosophy of History.Hegel: An Introduction.Hegel and the Human Spirit: A Translation of the Fena Lectures on the Philosophy of Spirit with Commentary.Hegel's Dialectic and its Criticism (review)Philosophical Quarterly 35 (139): 199. 1985.
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55Political Obligation: A Critical IntroductionRoutledge. 2009.Political obligation is concerned with the clash between the individual's claim to self-governance and the right of the state to claim obedience.
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50Gratitude and good governmentRes Publica 8 (1): 1-20. 2002.I attempt to show that it is notphilosophically incompetent to ground politicalobligation in feelings of gratitude. But theargument needs to be stated carefully.Gratitude must be distinguished fromreciprocity. It applies only to good governmentwhich provides benefits to citizens for whichthey ought to feel grateful. It applies only tocitizens who accept that their feelings ofgratitude are properly demonstrated by anacceptance on their part of the duties ofcitizenship. It does not apply to citize…Read more
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47Climbing: Because It's There – Stephen E. SchmidPhilosophical Quarterly 61 (245): 887-890. 2011.
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46Parents' consent to the post-mortem removal and retention of organsJournal of Applied Philosophy 18 (3). 2001.Parents of children who died following complex heart surgery have recently discovered that organs were removed and retained in post-m
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39Robert B. Pippin, Hegel's Practical Philosophy: Rational Agency as Ethical Life (review)Philosophical Quarterly 61 (242): 192-196. 2011.No abstract available.
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34Good Samaritans and Good GovernmentProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 112 (2pt2): 161-178. 2012.In this paper I review and provide a qualified defence of Samaritanism—Christopher Heath Wellman's novel approach to the old-fashioned problem of political obligation. I outline Wellman's theory, clarifying the details, and defend an amended version against a variety of objections concerning, successively, an alleged conflation of duties of care and beneficence, a difficulty concerning the distinction of perfect and imperfect duties, a problem deriving from the 'particularity requirement', and r…Read more
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33Political Thinkers: From Socrates to the Present (review)Contemporary Political Theory 4 (1): 87-90. 2005.
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33Hegel's CitizenHegel Bulletin 25 (1-2): 41-53. 2004.Hegel's account of freedom is complex and difficult. It integrates a doctrine of free agency, a theory of social freedom, and a self-determining theodicy of Spirit. To achieve full understanding, if full understanding is possible, the student must both disentangle and articulate the components, and then fit together the separate pieces into an intelligible whole. And what is true of the whole is true of the parts; each element is in turn complex and controversial.In this paper, I want to investi…Read more
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26Explanation and its Limits (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 1990.This collection of new essays explores the nature of explanation and causality.
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26Hegel on the Justification of PunishmentProceedings of the Hegel Society of America 15 125-145. 2001.
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22Ecology, Policy and Politics: Human Well‐being and the Natural WorldPhilosophical Books 36 (2): 127-129. 1995.
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22Alan Brudner and the Contemporary Significance of Hegel's Philosophy of Law (review)Jurisprudence 3 (1): 211-251. 2012.
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22The Economy of the Earth: Philosophy, Law and the EnvironmentPhilosophical Books 30 (4): 242-244. 1989.
Dudley Knowles
(1947 - 2014)
Areas of Specialization
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |