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50Beauty, evil, andPhilosophy and Literature 28 (1): 23-40. 2004.: Can literature provide moral insight? Or can literary works do nothing more than reflect the moral views that readers bring to them? We argue that literary works can provide genuine moral insight by discussing one that does. Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient challenges two key assumptions about moral evil: that evil necessarily involves active malevolence, and that evil and aesthetic beauty are mutually exclusive. These assumptions play foundational roles both in everyday moral thinking, …Read more
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15Two. Love’s Blindness : Love’s Closed HeartIn Love's Vision, Princeton University Press. pp. 28-45. 2011.
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172Love’s VisionPrinceton University Press. 2011."Something in between : on the nature of love" -- Love's blindness (1) : love's closed heart -- Love's blindness (2) : love's friendly eye -- Beyond comparison -- Commitments, values, and frameworks -- Valuing persons -- Love and morality -- Afterword. Between the universal and the particular.
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12Five. Commitments, Values, and FrameworksIn Love's Vision, Princeton University Press. pp. 95-122. 2011.
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175Terrorism, War, and The Killing of the InnocentEthical Theory and Moral Practice 10 (4): 353-372. 2007.Commonsense moral thought holds that what makes terrorism particularly abhorrent is the fact that it tends to be directed toward innocent victims. Yet contemporary philosophers tend to doubt that the concept of innocence plays any significant role here, and to deny that prohibitions against targeting noncombatants can be justified through appeal to their moral innocence. I argue, however, that the arguments used to support these doubts are ultimately unsuccessful. Indeed, the philosophical posit…Read more
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8On LoyaltyRoutledge. 2012.Loyalty is a highly charged and important issue, often evoking strong feelings and actions. What is loyalty? Is loyalty compatible with impartiality? How do we respond to conflicts of loyalties? In a global era, should we be trying to transcend loyalties to particular political communities? Drawing on a fascinating array of literary and cinematic examples - The Remains of the Day , No Country for Old Men , The English Patient , The Third Man , and more - Troy Jollimore expertly unravels the phen…Read more
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46Beauty, Evil, and The English PatientPhilosophy and Literature 28 (1): 23-40. 2004.Can literature provide moral insight? Or can literary works do nothing more than reflect the moral views that readers bring to them? We argue that literary works can provide genuine moral insight by discussing one that does. Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient challenges two key assumptions about moral evil: that evil necessarily involves active malevolence, and that evil and aesthetic beauty are mutually exclusive. These assumptions play foundational roles both in everyday moral thinking, an…Read more
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51Creating cosmopolitans: the case for literature (review)Studies in Philosophy and Education 25 (5-6): 363-383. 2006.A cosmopolitan education must help us identify with those who are unlike us. In Martha Nussbaum’s words, students must learn “enough to recognize common aims, aspirations, and values, and enough about these common ends to see how variously they are instantiated in the many cultures and their histories.” It is commonly thought that reading serious literature will play a significant role in this process. However, this claim is challenged by theorists we call sentimentalists, who claim that the goa…Read more
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17Three. Love’s Blindness : Love’s Friendly EyeIn Love's Vision, Princeton University Press. pp. 46-73. 2011.
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17"Review of" The Prudence of Love: How Possessing the Virtue of Love Benefits the Lover" (review)Essays in Philosophy 13 (1): 25. 2012.
Chico, California, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Aesthetics |
Meta-Ethics |
Normative Ethics |