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66A libertarian case for mandatory vaccinationJournal of Medical Ethics Recent Issues 44 (1): 37-43. 2017.This paper argues that mandatory, government-enforced vaccination can be justified even within a libertarian political framework. If so, this implies that the case for mandatory vaccination is very strong indeed as it can be justified even within a framework that, at first glance, loads the philosophical dice against that conclusion. I argue that people who refuse vaccinations violate the ‘clean hands principle’, a moral principle that prohibits people from participating in the collective imposi…Read more
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106How Government Leaders Violated Their Epistemic Duties During the SARS-CoV-2 CrisisKennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 30 (3): 215-242. 2020.Sovereign is he who provides the exception.…The exception is more interesting than the rule. The rule proves nothing; the exception proves everything. In the exception the power of real life breaks through the crust of a mechanism that has become torpid by repetition.In spring 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, world leaders imposed severe restrictions on citizens’ civil, political, and economic liberties. These restrictions went beyond less controversial and less demanding social distanc…Read more
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119If You’re an Egalitarian, You Shouldn’t be so RichThe Journal of Ethics 25 (3): 323-337. 2021.G.A. Cohen famously claims that egalitarians shouldn’t be so rich. If you possess excess income and there is little chance that the state will redistribute it to the poor, you are obligated to donate it yourself. We argue that this conclusion is correct, but that the case against the rich egalitarian is significantly stronger than the one Cohen offers. In particular, the standard arguments against donating one’s excess income face two critical, unrecognized problems. First, we show that these ar…Read more
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100Moral philosophy's moral riskRatio 33 (3): 191-201. 2020.Commonsense moral thinking holds that people have doxastic, contemplative, and expressive duties, that is, duties to or not to believe, seriously consider, and express certain ideas. This paper argues that moral and political philosophers face a high risk of violating any such duties, both because of the sensitivity and difficult of the subject matter, and because of various pernicious biases and influences philosophers face. We argue this leads to a dilemma, which we will not try to solve. Eith…Read more
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17An Ethical Assessment of Actual Voter BehaviorIn David Boonin (ed.), Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Public Policy, Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 201-214. 2018.This chapter investigates three basic questions concerning the ethics of voting: is there a duty to vote? Are there moral obligations regulating how one ought to vote? How well do most voters meet these obligations? I argue the answers are, in order: no, yes, and badly.
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34The Ethics ProjectJournal of Business Ethics Education 15 285-302. 2018.This paper describes the “Ethics Project”, a semester-long entrepreneurial activity in which students must make real-life decisions and then reflect upon their decisions. The Ethics Project asks students to think of something good to do, something that adds value to the world, and then do it. Along the way, they must navigate problems of opportunity cost or feasibility versus desirability, must anticipate and overcome strategic and ethical obstacles, and must ensure they add value, taking into a…Read more
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43Against Democracy: New PrefacePrinceton University Press. 2016.Hobbits and hooligans -- Ignorant, irrational, misinformed nationalists -- Political participation corrupts -- Politics doesn't empower you or me -- Politics is not a poem -- The right to competent government -- Is democracy competent? -- The rule of the knowers -- Civic enemies.
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89Against Democracy: New PrefacePrinceton University Press. 2016.Hobbits and hooligans -- Ignorant, irrational, misinformed nationalists -- Political participation corrupts -- Politics doesn't empower you or me -- Politics is not a poem -- The right to competent government -- Is democracy competent? -- The rule of the knowers -- Civic enemies.
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53Against the Moral Powers Test of basic libertyEuropean Journal of Philosophy 28 (2): 492-505. 2020.In Rawlsian political philosophy, “basic liberties” are rights subject to a high degree of protection, such that they cannot easily be overridden for concerns of stability, efficiency, or social justice. For Rawls, something qualifies as a basic liberty if and only if bears the right relationship to our “two moral powers”: a capacity to form a sense of the good life and a capacity for a sense of justice. However, which rights are basic liberties is subject to frequent ideological debate, which R…Read more
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79In Our Best Interest: A Defense of PaternalismPhilosophical Quarterly 69 (276): 636-638. 2019.In Our Best Interest: A Defense of Paternalism. Edited by Hanna Jason.
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54The Inheritance of Wealth: Justice, Equality, and the Right to Bequeath (review)The Philosophers' Magazine 84 109-110. 2019.
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1BibliographyIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 251-258. 2018.
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9Chapter 3. The Government Authority Argument for Special ImmunityIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 60-92. 2018.
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NotesIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 239-250. 2018.
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1IndexIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 259-270. 2018.
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13Chapter 5. Just Say No: The Ethics of Following Unjust OrdersIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 126-154. 2018.
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20FrontmatterIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. 2018.
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6AcknowledgmentsIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. 2018.
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4Chapter 1. Resistance: The Fourth OptionIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 1-27. 2018.
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7Chapter 7. Vigilante Justices: What Judges Should Do in Response to Unjust LawIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 181-205. 2018.
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2Chapter 8. Must You Resist? Some Closing ThoughtsIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 206-238. 2018.
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6ContentsIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. 2018.
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15Chapter 2. Defensive Ethics: The General FrameworkIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 28-59. 2018.
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3Chapter 6. Lying with Intent to SabotageIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 155-180. 2018.
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31When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State InjusticePrinceton University Press. 2018.Why you have the right to resist unjust government The economist Albert O. Hirschman famously argued that citizens of democracies have only three possible responses to injustice or wrongdoing by their governments: we may leave, complain, or comply. But in When All Else Fails, Jason Brennan argues that there is a fourth option. When governments violate our rights, we may resist. We may even have a moral duty to do so. For centuries, almost everyone has believed that we must allow the government a…Read more
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2Chapter 4. Other General Arguments for Special ImmunityIn When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice, Princeton University Press. pp. 93-125. 2018.
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168How Smart is Democracy? You Can't Answer that Question a PrioriCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 26 (1-2): 33-58. 2014.ABSTRACTHélène Landemore claims that under certain conditions, democracies with universal suffrage will tend to make smarter and better decisions than epistocracies, even though most citizens in modern democracies are extremely ignorant about politics. However, there is ample empirical evidence that citizens make systematic errors. If so, it is fatal to Landemore's defense of democracy, which, if it works at all, applies only to highly idealized situations that are unlikely to occur in the real …Read more
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Georgetown UniversityRegular Faculty
Areas of Specialization
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
PhilPapers Editorships
Government and Democracy |