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22Reason, Value and DesireDialogue 23 (2): 327-335. 1984.The general subject of Professor Bond's book, Reason and Value, is, as the title implies, the relation between reason and value, or more precisely the connections between concepts of motivation and value, with reasons as the contested notion in between. Bond offers a thesis that at least appears to go very much against the current trend on these matters. Whereas most recent theorists of note have tied justificatory reasons as well as explanatory reasons to desire, thus holding, in effect, that v…Read more
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21Alan Gewirth's foundationalism and the well-being stateJournal of Value Inquiry 31 (4): 485-502. 1997.
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20Sterba on Liberty and WelfarismAnalyse & Kritik 37 (1-2): 203-222. 2015.James Sterba advances several arguments designed to show that libertarianism, contrary to what this author and other libertarians think, actually implies support for welfarism and even egalitarianism. This discussion shows why his arguments do not work. There is preliminary discussion of our parameters: how much is Sterba claiming we have a minimum right to in the way of welfare? It is argued that if this is set very low, a libertarian society would easily eliminate the poverty he is concerned a…Read more
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20Professor Heath’s CanadaDialogue 42 (2): 363-. 2003.Professor Heath’s thesis that Canada is “The Efficient Society” has shock value. In contemplating our country, the image of efficiency is not the first one that comes to mind. But in this engagingly—indeed, breezily—written book, that is just what we are told. The claim is that we have discovered the virtues of good government, and other more hapless places such as the United States, have not. Contrary to what we might suppose, government is efficient! The idea certainly tickles the intellect, a…Read more
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20Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (review)Canadian Journal of Philosophy 17 (1): 227-234. 1987.
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20Moral issues (edited book)Oxford University Press. 1983.Though this moderately-priced anthology dates back to 1983, its lively articles are as relevant as ever. Topics covered include suicide, euthanasia, war, punishment,world hunger, abortion, sexual relations, equality, affirmative action, and future generations.
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20Communication and Human Good: The Twentieth Century's Main AchievementSocial Philosophy Today 17 91-102. 2001.The invention of computers, and especially their communication capabilities is revolutionary in several ways. They show the paramount importance of communication in human life, as well as facilitating revolutionary improvements in virtually all areas of social life: business, the arts, agriculture, and others. They put in perspective the erroneous outlook of "materialism" -the idea that human well-being is a matter of accumulating material objects, with a corollary that we must be using up the m…Read more
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19Equality vs. Liberty: Advantage, LibertySocial Philosophy and Policy 2 (1): 33-60. 1984.The subject of this essay is political, and therefore social, philosophy; and therefore, ethics. We want to know whether the right thing for a society to do is to incorporate in its structure requirements that we bring about equality, or liberty, or both if they are compatible, and if incompatible then which if either, or what sort of mix if they can to some degree be mixed. But this fairly succinct statement of the issue before us requires considerable clarification, even as a statment of the i…Read more
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19Bastiat's great contribution to economics, in his own view, was his identification of service as the source of economic value. What is anything worth to anybody? In the cases where we are not dealing with what our fellow men do for us, the answer is to be found in its utility - how much the thing contributes to our satisfaction. In the case where we deal with our fellows, we are interested specifically in what they can do for us, that is, how much service they can render us - how much they can o…Read more
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19John Stuart Mill as PhilosopherDialogue 32 (2): 315-. 1993.This critical notice of Skorupski's large work is for the most part strongly positive: "Both as a work of scholarship and as a contribution to philosophy in its own right, an outstanding work". There are careful and detailed discussions of Mill's semantics, logic, philosophy of mathematics, logic of the moral sciences, and ethical writings (but not on religion, democracy, or women). Some issue is taken with Skorupski's account of and support for Mill's utilitarianism; broad agreement is expresse…Read more
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18A Theory of the Good and the Right (review)International Studies in Philosophy 12 (1): 107-108. 1980.
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17Professor Filice’s Defense of Pacifism: A CommentJournal of Philosophical Research 17 483-491. 1992.
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17Liberal-Conservative: The Real Controversy (review)Journal of Value Inquiry 34 (2/3): 167-188. 2000.
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17Rights and UtilitarianismCanadian Journal of Philosophy 9 (sup1): 137-160. 1979.Few questions about utilitarianism have been more vexed than that of its relation to rights. It is commonplace to hold that there are nonutilitarian rights, rights not founded on considerations of utility. And it is even thought that the very notion of rights is inherently incapable of being significantly employed within the utilitarian framework. In the present paper, I wish to consider both of these matters. I propose to give reasons—mostly not really new—for rejecting the stronger, conceptual…Read more
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17A Theory of Reasons for Action. By David A. J. Richards. Oxford and Toronto: Oxford University Press. 1971. xiv, 370. $15.50 (review)Dialogue 12 (1): 116-120. 1973.
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16Morals and MarxDialogue 22 (3): 523-534. 1983.There are fourteen original papers in this substantial volume devoted to the general problem of the relation of Marxism, or at least Marxism as found in the works of Marx, and moral theory. The questions are, in Nielsen's words, “whether there should be or even could be a Marxist moral theory and if there could be a Marxist moral theory, what sort of a moral theory it should be”. Why does he not include the question what Marx's moral theory is? For a few of these writers do think that Marx had s…Read more
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14An overlooked aspect of the fairness-utility controversyJournal of Value Inquiry 8 (2): 124-130. 1974.
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13The Evaluation of Ethical Theories. By Charles B. Daniels. Halifax, Dalhousie University Press 1975. pp. 87 + viii. $3.00 (review)Dialogue 19 (2): 349-359. 1980.
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12Respecting Persons in Theory and Practice: Essays on Moral and Political PhilosophyRowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2002.Respecting Persons in Theory and Practice is a collection of essays of the moral and political philosophy of Jan Narveson. The essays in this collection share a consistent theme running through much of Narveson's moral and political philosophy, namely that politics and morals stem from the interests of individual people, and have no antecedent authority over us. The essays in this collection, in various ways and as applied to various aspects of the scene, argue that the ultimate and true point o…Read more
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12J.J.C. Smart., Ethics, Persuasion and TruthInternational Studies in Philosophy 21 (1): 116-118. 1989.
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11Shopping‐mall liberalism: Reply to LegutkoCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 5 (1): 129-134. 1991.No abstract
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10Future people and usIn Richard I. Sikora & Brian M. Barry (eds.), Obligations to Future Generations, White Horse Press. pp. 38--60. 1978.
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University of WaterlooDepartment of Philosophy
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Value Theory |