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24Book Review: After Evil: Responding to Wrongdoing (review)Journal of Moral Philosophy 2 (2): 248-251. 2005.
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116Is It a Jungle Out There? Trust, Distrust and the Construction of Social RealityDialogue 33 (2): 237-. 1994.An acquaintance who works with street teens once said to me, “They live in a completely different world.” She did not mean only that they lived downtown and not in the suburbs, slept under bridges and not in beds, ate in soup kitchens instead of restaurants. She meant that street teens experienced a social reality radically different from the reality of those who have lived most of life in a relatively sheltered and stable middle-class environment. They have a different view of other people, of …Read more
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88Forgiveness: The Victim's PrerogativeSouth African Journal of Philosophy 21 (2): 97-111. 2002.This article explores and offers a qualified defence of the claim that the entitlement to forgive a wrongdoer belongs to the victim of the wrong. A summary account of forgiveness is given, followed by arguments in favor of the victim's prerogative to forgive. Primary, or direct victims are then distinguished from secondary and tertiary ones, which point to a plurality of prerogatives to forgive. In cases of conflicts between these prerogatives it is emphasized that special care should be taken t…Read more
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25The authority of first person claims may be understood from an epistemic perspective or as a matter of social practice. Building on accounts of Hume, Nagel, and several more recent authors, it is argued that this authority should be understood as limited. To extend it beyond notions of what it is like to experience something, we shift from what should be a narrow subjective edge to a territory of objective claims, thereby reasoning incorrectly. A relevant application is the supposed authority of…Read more
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7Book Review: Liberals and Cannibals: The Implications of Diversity (review)Philosophy of the Social Sciences 36 (4): 503-507. 2006.
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2Duane L. Cady, From Warism to Pacifism: A Moral Continuum (review)Philosophy in Review 11 (2): 91-94. 1991.
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23In pro and con arguments, an arguer acknowledges that there are points against the conclu-sion reached. Such points have been called ‘counter-considerations.’ Their significance is explored here in the light of recent comments by Rongdong Jin, Hans Hansen and others. A conception of connector words such as “although”, “nevertheless,” and “but” is developed, as is a new model recognizing the need for an ‘on balance’ judgment in these arguments.
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137A practical study of argumentWadsworth Pub. Co.. 1991.The book also comes with an exhaustive array of study aids that enable the reader to monitor and enhance the learning process.
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19A delicate balance: what philosophy can tell us about terrorismWestview Press. 2002.Did the world change on September 11, 2001? For those who live outside of New York or Washington, life's familiar pace persists and families and jobs resume their routines. Yet everything seems different because of the dramatic disturbance in our sense of what our world means and how we exist within it. In A Delicate Balance , philosopher Trudy Govier writes that it is because our feelings and attitudes have altered so fundamentally that our world has changed. Govier believes that there are ethi…Read more
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620. Emotion, Relevance, and Consolation ArgumentsIn Kent A. Peacock & Andrew D. Irvine (eds.), Mistakes of reason: essays in honour of John Woods, University of Toronto Press. pp. 364-379. 2005.
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Physical violence in political conflicts : Grounds for a strong presumption against violenceIn Timothy Shanahan (ed.), Philosophy 9/11: Thinking About the War on Terrorism, Open Court. 2005.
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27Victims and VictimhoodBroadview Press. 2014.Who is a victim? Considerations of innocence typically figure in our notions of victimhood, as do judgments about causation, responsibility, and harm. Those identified as victims are sometimes silenced or blamed for their misfortune—responses that are typically mistaken and often damaging. However, other problems arise when we defer too much to victims, being reluctant to criticize their judgments or testimony. Reaching a sensitive and yet critical stand on victims’ credibility is a difficult ma…Read more
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19Arguing forever? Or: Two tiers of argument appraisalIn H. V. Hansen, C. W. Tindale & A. V. Colman (eds.), Argumentation and Rhetoric, Vale. 1997.In this paper I explore Ralph Johnson's proposal that in addition to premises and conclusion every argument should have a dialectical tier in which the arguer addresses objections to the argument, and considers alternative positions. After exploring several reasons for thinking that Johnson's proposal is a good one, I then raise a number of objections against it and move ahead to respond to those objections, which I do by distinguishing making out a case for a conclusion from offering an argumen…Read more
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Meta-Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |