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20Virtue Science and Productive Neutrality: Review of Wright, J. C., Warren, M., & Snow, N. Understanding Virtue (review)Journal of Moral Education 51 (1): 104-110. 2021.In this wise and creative book, Wright, Warren, and Snow propose a path-breaking interdisciplinary research program that promises to ground a mature science of moral virtue. Their theoretical framework and ideas for measurement are designed to guide psychologists as they study the individual traits that people have, the ways that traits interact or conflict, and the ways they change over time. While lauding the authors’ impressive achievements, I criticize the contentious Aristotelian assumption…Read more
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19Iris MurdochIn In Hugh LaFollette (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Wiley-Blackwell. 2013.This essay provides a broad overview of Dame Iris Murdoch's work in moral philosophy. Although Murdoch is best known as a novelist, the focus here will be on her philosophic work. Throughout her life, Murdoch (1919–99) characterized herself as a Platonic realist and attacked other approaches to moral philosophy for obscuring our understanding of what she calls “the moral life” – roughly, our attempts to understand, evaluate, and improve ourselves and our lives together. While most philosophers a…Read more
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18Normativity and the Will, by R. Jay Wallace (review)Ethics 117 (4): 790-794. 2007.Summary of Wallace's book. Raises an objection to Wallace's response to moral skepticism.
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17Book ReviewsGraham Oddie,. Value, Desire, and Reality.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pp. 272. $65.00 (review)Ethics 116 (2): 432-435. 2006.
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17Dependence, Deference, and Meritocracy: Some Questions for Aaron StalnakerPhilosophy East and West 71 (2): 504-512. 2021.It is my pleasure to comment on Aaron Stalnaker's ambitious and thought-provoking book Mastery, Dependence, and the Ethics of Authority. Early on Stalnaker tells us that the "central topic" of his study is "mastery or expertise at living well, as understood by the early Ru." In addition, the book aims to highlight the contemporary relevance of this ancient account of virtue and virtue acquisition. I will begin with a summary and overall assessment and then pose some questions.Stalnaker admits th…Read more
Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Normative Ethics |
Moral Psychology |
Asian Philosophy |
Virtue Ethics |
Practical Reason |
Areas of Interest
Kantian Ethics |
American Pragmatism |
Ethics of Belief |
Free Will |
Death and Dying |