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22Shoemaker on Sentiments and Quality of WillCriminal Law and Philosophy 13 (4): 573-584. 2019.In this comment, I raise a number of concerns about David Shoemaker’s adoption of the quality of will approach in his recent book, Responsibility from the Margins. I am not sure that the quality of will approach is given an adequate grounding that defends it against alternative models of moral responsibility; and it is unclear what the argument is for Shoemaker’s tripartite version of the quality of will approach. One possibility that might fit with Shoemaker’s text is that the tripartite model …Read more
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21Considering Murphy on Human ExecutionersCriminal Justice Ethics 36 (1): 111-116. 2017.I am very grateful to Jeffrie Murphy for his response to my article1 and to Jonathan Jacobs for the chance to respond in turn to Murphy’s criticisms. It is a particular honor for me to respond to J...
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19Love Among the Ruins: on the possibility of dialectical activity in paris, texasAngelaki 27 (5): 132-147. 2022.In this paper I give an interpretation of the Wim Wenders film, Paris, Texas, that brings to bear Talbot Brewer’s notion of “dialectical activity.” According to Brewer, dialectical activity is an a...
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18Russell on Naturalism and Practical Reason (review)Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 24 (1): 347-356. 2019.This response to Paul Russell looks at how we should understand the moral sentiments and their role in action. I think that there is an important tension in Russell’s interpretation of this role. On the one hand, aspects of Russell’s position commit him to some kind of rationalism about the emotions: for instance, he has argued that P. F. Strawson’s account of the reactive is crudely naturalistic; and he has claimed that emotions are constitutive of our sensitivity to moral reasons. On the other…Read more
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18A Problem Case for Public ReasonCritical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 6 (3): 50-69. 2003.This essay is concerned with what I shall call the public reason constraint. The public reason constraint expresses the view that in public debate we have some duty of neutrality: the justification...
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18Review Article: Forgiveness and the Claims of RetributionJournal of Moral Philosophy 1 (1): 89-101. 2004.
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17Review of Stephen P. Garvey, Guilty Acts, Guilty Minds (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020) (review)Criminal Law and Philosophy 17 (1): 235-242. 2023.
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16Desert and DissociationJournal of the American Philosophical Association 10 (1): 116-134. 2024.I argue against the idea of basic desert. I claim that the supposed normative force of desert considerations is better understood in terms of dissociation. The starting point is to note that an important strategy in spelling out the apparent normative force of desert considerations appeals to the idea of complicity. I argue that the idea of basic desert cannot give a good explanation of this connection. I propose that it is rather dissociation that is explanatorily basic. I further argue that di…Read more
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15Recidivist Punishments: The Philosopher's View (edited book)Lexington Books. 2011.Much has been written about recidivist punishments, particularly within the area of criminology. However there is a notorious lack of penal philosophical reflection on this issue. This book attempts to fill that gap by presenting the philosopher’s view on this matter as a way of furthering the debate on recidivist punishments
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13Morality, Self‐Knowledge and Human Suffering: An Essay on the Loss of Confidence in the World, by Josep E. Corbí. New York: Routledge, 2012, 254 pp. ISBN 978‐0‐415‐89069‐4 hb $85.00 (review)European Journal of Philosophy 21 (S4). 2013.
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10Russell on Naturalism and Practical Reason (review)Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 24 (1): 347-356. 2019.This response to Paul Russell looks at how we should understand the moral sentiments and their role in action. I think that there is an important tension in Russell’s interpretation of this role. On the one hand, aspects of Russell’s position commit him to some kind of rationalism about the emotions: for instance, he has argued that P. F. Strawson’s account of the reactive is crudely naturalistic; and he has claimed that emotions are constitutive of our sensitivity to moral reasons. On the other…Read more
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9Russell on Naturalism and Practical Reason (review)Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 24 (1): 347-356. 2019.This response to Paul Russell looks at how we should understand the moral sentiments and their role in action. I think that there is an important tension in Russell’s interpretation of this role. On the one hand, aspects of Russell’s position commit him to some kind of rationalism about the emotions: for instance, he has argued that P. F. Strawson’s account of the reactive is crudely naturalistic; and he has claimed that emotions are constitutive of our sensitivity to moral reasons. On the other…Read more
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How should we argue for a censure theory of punishment?In Antje du Bois-Pedain & Anthony E. Bottoms (eds.), Penal censure: engagements within and beyond desert theory, Hart Publishing. 2019.
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PunishmentIn John Tasioulas (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law, Cambridge University Press. 2020.
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Apology and reparation in a multicultural stateIn Michael D. A. Freeman & Ross Harrison (eds.), Law and Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 2007.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada