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2049Intuitions about large number casesAnalysis 73 (1): 37-46. 2013.Is there some large number of very mild hangnail pains, each experienced by a separate person, which would be worse than two years of excruciating torture, experienced by a single person? Many people have the intuition that the answer to this question is No. However, a host of philosophers have argued that, because we have no intuitive grasp of very large numbers, we should not trust such intuitions. I argue that there is decent intuitive support for the No answer, which does not depend on our i…Read more
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1019Risky GivingThe Philosophers' Magazine 73 (2): 62-70. 2016.We might worry that Peter Singer’s argument from “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” is unconvincing to non-consequentialists who accept moral constraints against imposing significant risks of harm on individuals. After all, giving to overseas charities often comes with such risks. I argue that plausible non-consequentialist criteria imply that it is not wrong to give to at least some of the charities that Singer and other effective altruists recommend.
St Andrews, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
| Normative Ethics |
| Value Theory |
| Metaphysics |
| Applied Ethics |
| Social and Political Philosophy |