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184Moral particularism (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2000.A timely and penetrating investigation, this book seeks to transform moral philosophy. In the face of continuing disagreement about which general moral principles are correct, there has been a resurgence of interest in the idea that correct moral judgements can be only about particular cases. This view--moral particularism --forecasts a revolution in ordinary moral practice that has until now consisted largely of appeals to general moral principles. Moral particularism also opposes the primary a…Read more
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6American moral philosophyIn Cheryl Misak (ed.), The Oxford handbook of American philosophy, Oxford University Press. pp. 578-594. 2008.
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70Scanlon versus Moore on goodnessIn Terry Horgan & Mark Timmons (eds.), Metaethics After Moore, Oxford University Press. pp. 149. 2006.
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59Reply to Arneson and McIntyrePhilosophical Issues 15 (1). 2005.Richard Arneson and Alison McIntyre have done me a great honor by reading my book Ideal Code, Real World so carefully.1 In addition, they have done me a great kindness by reading it sympathetically. Nevertheless, they each find the book ultimately unconvincing, though in very different ways. But the cause of their dissatisfaction with the book is not mistaken interpretation. They have interpreted the book accurately, and they have advanced penetrating criticisms of it. One group of their critici…Read more
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786Must Kantian Contractualism and Rule-consequentialism Converge?Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics 4 34-52. 2014.Derek Parfit’s On What Matters endorses Kantian Contractualism, the normative theory that everyone ought to follow the rules that everyone could rationally will that everyone accept. This paper explores Parfit’s argument that Kantian Contractualism converges with Rule Consequentialism. A pivotal concept in Parfit’s argument is the concept of impartiality, which he seems to equate agent-neutrality. This paper argues that equating impartiality and agent-neutrality is insufficient, since some agent…Read more
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781Variable versus fixed-rate rule-utilitarianismPhilosophical Quarterly 58 (231). 2008.Fixed-rate versions of rule-consequentialism and rule-utilitarianism evaluate rules in terms of the expected net value of one particular level of social acceptance, but one far enough below 100% social acceptance to make salient the complexities created by partial compliance. Variable-rate versions of rule-consequentialism and rule-utilitarianism instead evaluate rules in terms of their expected net value at all different levels of social acceptance. Brad Hooker has advocated a fixed-rate versio…Read more
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1180Does Moral Virtue Constitute a Benefit to the Agent?In Roger Crisp (ed.), How Should One Live?: Essays on the Virtues, Oxford University Press. 1996.Theories of individual well‐being fall into three main categories: hedonism, the desire‐fulfilment theory, and the list theory (which maintains that there are some things that can benefit a person without increasing the person's pleasure or desire‐fulfilment). The paper briefly explains the answers that hedonism and the desire‐fulfilment theory give to the question of whether being virtuous constitutes a benefit to the agent. Most of the paper is about the list theory's answer.
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106Publicity in morality: A reply to Katarzyna de lazari-Radek and Peter SingerRatio 23 (1): 111-117. 2010.
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43Up and down with aggregationSocial Philosophy and Policy 26 (1): 126-147. 2009.This paper starts by addressing some objections to the very idea of aggregate social good. The paper goes on to review the case for letting aggregate social good be not only morally relevant but also sometimes morally decisive. Then the paper surveys objections to letting aggregate social good determine personal or political decisions. The paper goes on to argue against the idea that aggregate good is sensitive to desert and the idea that aggregate good should be construed as incorporating agent…Read more
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17E. E. Constance Jones was a student of Henry Sidgwick's. Her article is mainly about the idea that there are ‘two supreme principles of human action, both of which we are under a “manifest obligation” to obey.’ One is the principle of Rational Benevolence and the other is the principle of Rational Self-Love. Jones contends that ‘Rational Benevolence implies or includes the Rationality of Self-Love’. There is one reading of Jones's contention that makes it undeniable but other readings that make …Read more
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2419The Elements of Well-BeingJournal of Practical Ethics 3 (1): 15-35. 2015.This essay contends that the constitutive elements of well-being are plural, partly objective, and separable. The essay argues that these elements are pleasure, friendship, significant achievement, important knowledge, and autonomy, but not either the appreciation of beauty or the living of a morally good life. The essay goes on to attack the view that elements of well-being must be combined in order for well-being to be enhanced. The final section argues against the view that, because anything …Read more
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28Right, wrong, and rule-consequentialismIn Henry West (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to Mill's Utilitarianism, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 233-248. 2008.
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63Theories of welfare, theories of good reasons for action, and ontological naturalismPhilosophical Papers 20 (1): 25-36. 1991.No abstract
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228Ideal Code, Real World: A Rule-Consequentialist Theory of MoralityOxford University Press UK. 2000.What are appropriate criteria for assessing a theory of morality? In Ideal Code, Real World, Brad Hooker begins by answering this question, and then argues for a rule-consequentialist theory. According to rule-consequentialism, acts should be assessed morally in terms of impartially justified rules, and rules are impartially justified if and only if the expected overall value of their general internalization is at least as great as for any alternative rules. In the course of developing his rule-…Read more
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15Review of Nicholas Rescher, Fairness: Theory and Practice of Distributive Justice (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2003 (8). 2003.
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97Thinking about reasons: themes from the philosophy of Jonathan Dancy (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2013.Thinking about Reasons collects fourteen new essays on ethics and the philosophy of action, inspired by the work of Jonathan Dancy—one of his generation's most influential moral philosophers.
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164When is Impartiality Morally Appropriate?In Brian Feltham & John Cottingham (eds.), Partiality and Impartiality: Morality, Special Relationships, and the Wider World, Oxford University Press. pp. 26-41. 2010.With respect to morality, the term ‘impartiality’ is used to refer to quite different things. My paper will focus on three: 1. Impartial application of good (first-order) moral rules 2. Impartial benevolence as the direct guide to decisions about what to do 3. Impartial assessment of (first-order) moral rules What are the relations among these three? Suppose there was just one good (first-order) moral rule, namely, that one should choose whatever one thinks will maximize aggregate good. If there…Read more
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369FairnessEthical Theory and Moral Practice 8 (4). 2005.The main body of this paper assesses a leading recent theory of fairness, a theory put forward by John Broome. I discuss Broome's theory partly because of its prominence and partly because I think it points us in the right direction, even if it takes some missteps. In the course of discussing Broome's theory, I aim to cast light on the relation of fairness to consistency, equality, impartiality, desert, rights, and agreements. Indeed, before I start assessing Broome's theory, I discuss two very …Read more
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175Rule-consequentialism and internal consistency: A reply to cardUtilitas 19 (4): 514-519. 2007.Rule-consequentialism has been accused of either collapsing into act-consequentialism or being internally inconsistent. I have tried to develop a form of rule-consequentialism without these flaws. In this June's issue of Utilitas, Robert Card argued that I have failed. Here I assess his arguments
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Areas of Specialization
Normative Ethics |
Meta-Ethics |
Value Theory |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Normative Ethics |
Value Theory |
Meta-Ethics |