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41Justice within the limits of human nature aloneSocial Philosophy and Policy 33 (1-2): 193-213. 2016.Abstract: Contra John Rawls, G. A. Cohen argues that the fundamental principles of justice are not constrained by the limits of our nature or the nature of society, even at its historical best. Justice is what it is, even if it will never be realized, fully or at all. Likewise, David Estlund argues that since our innate motivations can be justice-tainting, they cannot be a constraint on the right conception of justice. Cohen and Estlund agree that if the attempt to implement a certain conception…Read more
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145Philosophical interest in friendship has revived after a long eclipse. This is largely due to a renewed interest in ancient moral philosophy, in the role of emotion in morality, and in the ethical dimensions of personal relations in general. Some of the main questions raised by philosophers are the following: Is friendship only an instrumental value, i.e., only a means to other values, or also an intrinsic value - a value in its own right? Is friendship a mark of psychological and moral self-suf…Read more
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379Altruism Versus Self-Interest: Sometimes a False DichotomySocial Philosophy and Policy 10 (1): 90-117. 1993.In the moral philosophy of the last two centuries, altruism of one kind or another has typically been regarded as identical with moral concern. When self-regarding duties have been recognized, motivation by duty has been sharply distinguished from motivation by self-interest. I think this view is wrong: self-interest can be the motive of a moral act. My chief concern is to argue that self-interested action -- i.e., action motivated by rational self-interest -- can be moral, but the data I use to…Read more
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1195Self-Interest and Virtue*: NEERA K. BADHWARSocial Philosophy and Policy 14 (1): 226-263. 1997.The Aristotelian view that the moral virtues–the virtues of character informed by practical wisdom–are essential to an individual's happiness, and are thus in an individual's self-interest, has been little discussed outside of purely scholarly contexts. With a few exceptions, contemporary philosophers have tended to be suspicious of Aristotle's claims about human nature and the nature of rationality and happiness. But recent scholarship has offered an interpretation of the basic elements of Aris…Read more
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871.1 Are commercial societies unfriendly to friendship? Many critics of commercial societies, from both the left and the right, have thought so. They claim that the free-market system of property rights, freedom of contract, and other liberty rights – the “negative” right of individuals to peacefully pursue their own ends – is impersonal and dehumanizing, or even inherently divisive and adversarial. Yet (their complaint goes) the psychology and morality of markets and liberty rights pervade far t…Read more
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101Is Realism Really Bad for You? A Realistic ResponseJournal of Philosophy 105 (2): 85-107. 2008.
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51Dignity and Vulnerability (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 63 (1): 246-248. 2001.In this significant new addition to moral theory, George Harris challenges a view of the dignity and worth of persons that goes back through Kant and Christianity to the Stoics. He argues that we do not, in fact, believe this view, which traces any breakdowns of character to failures of strength. When it comes to what we actually value in ourselves and others, he says, we are far more Greek than Christian. At the most profound level, we value ourselves as natural organisms, as animals, rather th…Read more
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16Book Review:Women, Culture and Development: A Study of Human Capabilities. Martha Nussbaum, Jonathan Glover (review)Ethics 107 (4): 725-. 1997.
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61Review of Daniel M. Haybron, The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2009 (10). 2009.
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8LoveIn Hugh LaFollette (ed.), The Oxford handbook of practical ethics, Oxford University Press. 2003.
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8Friendship and commercial societiesPolitics, Philosophy and Economics 7 (3): 301-326. 2008.Critics of commercial societies complain that the free-market system of property rights and freedom of contract tends to commodify relationships, thus eroding the bonds of personal and civic friendship. I argue that this thesis rests on a misunderstanding of both markets and friendship. As voluntary, reciprocal relationships, market relationships and friendship share important properties. Like all relations and activities that exercise important human capacities and play an important role in a m…Read more
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432Moral Agency, Commitment, and ImpartialitySocial Philosophy and Policy 13 (1): 1-26. 1996.Communitarians reject the impartial and universal viewpoint of liberal morality in favor of the "situated" viewpoint of the agent's community, and elevate political community into the moral community. I show that the preeminence of political community in communitarian morality is incompatible with concern for people's lives in the partial communities of family, friends, or others. Ironically, it is also incompatible with the communitarian thesis about the situated nature of moral agency. Politic…Read more
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667LoveIn Hugh LaFollette (ed.), The Oxford handbook of practical ethics, Oxford University Press. pp. 42. 2003."[L]ove is not merely a contributor - one among others - to meaningful life. In its own way it may underlie all other forms of meaning....by its very nature love is the principal means by which creatures like us seek affective relations to persons, things, or ideals that have value and importance for us. I. The Look of Love.
Neera K. Badhwar
University of Oklahoma
George Mason University
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George Mason UniversityMercatus CenterProfessor (Part-time)
Norman, Oklahoma, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy, Misc |
Value Theory |
Areas of Interest
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy, Misc |
Value Theory |