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    The Paradox of Loyalty
    American Philosophical Quarterly 25 (2). 1988.
  •  56
    Desire
    Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 1998.
    If an agent is to be moved to action, then two requirements have to be fulfilled: first, the agent must possess beliefs about the way things actually are, about the actions possible given the way things are, and about the likely effects of those actions on how things are; and, second, the agent must have or form desires to change the way things are by resorting to this or that course of action. The beliefs tell the agent about how things are and about how they can be altered; the desires attract…Read more
  •  931
    Three Methods of Ethics: A Debate
    with Marcia W. Baron and Michael A. Slote
    Wiley-Blackwell. 1997.
    During the past decade ethical theory has been in a lively state of development, and three basic approaches to ethics - Kantian ethics, consequentialism, and virtue ethics - have assumed positions of particular prominence.
  •  185
    Pettit presents a selection of essays touching upon metaphysics, philosophical psychology, and the theory of rational regulation. The first part of the book discusses the rule-following character of thought. The second considers how choice can be responsive to different sorts of factors, while still being under the control of thought. The third examines the implications of this view of choice and rationality for the normative regulation of social behavior.
  •  305
    Groups with minds of their own
    In Alvin I. Goldman & Dennis Whitcomb (eds.), Social Epistemology: Essential Readings, Oxford University Press. 2011.
  •  71
    My thanks to the Editors of Philosophy & Public Affairs for very helpful comments on an earlier draft. I also had the benefit of an exchange with Christopher McMahon. 1. Christopher McMahon, “The Indeterminacy of Republican Policy,” Philosophy & Public Affairs 33 (2005): 67–93, at p. 89. All parenthetical references in the text are to this article.
  •  59
    Non-consequentialism and Political Philosophy
    Enfoques 18 (1-2): 27-49. 2006.
    Robert Nozick has shown in which ways the theory of natural law (in John Locke, for instance) can be invoked to defend a libertarian theory of State. This paper suggests that Nozick does not prove that invoking natural rights may be a proof against the consequentionalist challenge. An overview of no..
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    Contemporary Political Theory
    Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers. 1991.
  •  27
    Reviews (review)
    with Heinz Skala and John Ferejohn
    Theory and Decision 8 (4): 395-414. 1977.
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    Rational choice, functional selection and empty black boxes
    Journal of Economic Methodology 7 (1): 33-57. 2000.
    In order to vindicate rational-choice theory as a mode of explaining social patterns in general - social patterns beyond the narrow range of economic behaviour - we have to recognize the legitimacy of explaining the resilience of certain patterns of behaviour: that is, explaining, not necessarily why they emerged or have been sustained, but why they are robust and reliable. And once we allow the legitimacy of explaining resilience, then we can see how functionalist theory may also serve us well …Read more