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66A theory of environmental virtueEnvironmental Ethics 28 (3): 247-264. 2006.If claims about which character traits are environmental virtues are to be more than rhetoric, there must be some basis or standard for evaluation. This naturalistic, teleological, pluralistic, and inclusive account of what makes a character trait an environmental virtue can be such a standard. It is naturalistic because it is consistent with and motivated by scientific naturalism. It is teleological becausecharacter traits are evaluated according to how well they promote certain ends. It is plu…Read more
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1032Identity and distinction in Spinoza's ethicsPacific Philosophical Quarterly 86 (2). 2005.In Ethics 1p5, Spinoza asserts that “In Nature there cannot be two or more substances of the same nature or attribute”. This claim serves as a crucial premise in Spinoza’s argument for substance monism, yet Spinoza’s demonstration of the 1p5 claim is surprisingly brief and appears to have obvious difficulties. This paper answers the principle difficulties that have been raised in response to Spinoza’s argument for 1p5. The key to understanding the 1p5 argument lies in a proper understanding of…Read more
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Stephen R. Kellert and Timothy J. Farnham (eds), The Good in Nature and HumanityEnvironmental Values 12 (4): 539-541. 2003.
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3Review of: Westra, Laura and Lawson, Bill E., eds., Faces of Environmental Racism: Confronting Issues of Global Injustice (review)Environmental Values 12 (4): 543-546. 2003.
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32Book review:Gregory Pence, editor, the ethics of food: A reader for the 21st century. Rowman and Littlefield publishers, 2002. ISBN: 0-7425-1334-3 (PB). XI + 287 pp (review)Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 18 (1): 85-93. 2004.
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56Ignorance and VirtuePhilosophical Papers 34 (2): 261-272. 2005.Julia Driver has argued that there is a class of virtues that are compatible with or even require that an agent be ignorant in some respect. In this paper I argue for an alternative conception of the relationship between ignorance and virtue. The dispositions constitutive of virtue must include sensitivity to human limitations and fallibility. In this way the virtues accommodate ignorance, rather than require or promote it. I develop my account by considering two virtues in particular: tolerance…Read more
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1250Transhumanism, Human Dignity, and Moral StatusAmerican Journal of Bioethics 10 (7): 63-66. 2010.This Article does not have an abstract
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661The good of non-sentient entities: Organisms, artifacts, and synthetic biologyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44 (4): 697-705. 2013.Synthetic organisms are at the same time organisms and artifacts. In this paper we aim to determine whether such entities have a good of their own, and so are candidates for being directly morally considerable. We argue that the good of non-sentient organisms is grounded in an etiological account of teleology, on which non-sentient organisms can come to be teleologically organized on the basis of their natural selection etiology. After defending this account of teleology, we argue that there are…Read more
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715On the Moral Considerability of Homo sapiens and Other SpeciesEnvironmental Values 15 (1). 2006.It is sometimes claimed that as members of the species Homo sapiens we have a responsibility to promote the good of Homo sapiens itself (distinct from the good of its individual members). Lawrence Johnson has recently defended this claim as part of his approach to resolving the problem of future generations. We show that there are several difficulties with Johnson's argument, many of which are likely to attend any attempt to establish the moral considerability of Homo sapiens or species generall…Read more
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22Food Ethics: The BasicsRoutledge. 2014.Food Ethics: The Basics is a concise yet comprehensive introduction to the ethical dimensions of the production and consumption of food. It offers an impartial exploration of the most prominent ethical questions relating to food and agriculture including: • Should we eat animals? • Are locally produced foods ethically superior to globally sourced foods? • Do people in affluent nations have a responsibility to help reduce global hunger? • Should we embrace bioengineered foods? • What should be th…Read more
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44A Theory of Environmental VirtueEnvironmental Ethics 28 (3): 247-264. 2006.If claims about which character traits are environmental virtues are to be more than rhetoric, there must be some basis or standard for evaluation. This naturalistic, teleological, pluralistic, and inclusive account of what makes a character trait an environmental virtue can be such a standard. It is naturalistic because it is consistent with and motivated by scientific naturalism. It is teleological becausecharacter traits are evaluated according to how well they promote certain ends. It is plu…Read more
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513Species Concepts and Natural GoodnessIn Joseph Keim Campbell, Michael O'Rourke & Matthew H. Slater (eds.), Carving Nature at its Joints: Natural Kinds in Metaphysics and Science, Mit Press. pp. 289. 2011.This chapter defends a pluralist understanding of species on which a normative species concept is viable and can support natural goodness evaluations. The central question here is thus: Since organisms are to be evaluated as members of their species, how does a proper understanding of species affect the feasibility of natural goodness evaluations? Philippa Foot has argued for a form of natural goodness evaluation in which living things are evaluated by how well fitted they are for flourishing as…Read more
Areas of Interest
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Applied Ethics |
Meta-Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Philosophy of Biology |
Value Theory, Miscellaneous |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |