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1A New Approach to Character Traits in Light of PsychologyIn Iskra Fileva (ed.), Questions of Character, Oxford University Press. pp. 249-267. 2016.The goal of this paper is to summarize a novel empirical framework that I have developed for thinking about the moral character traits which I claim are widely possessed by many people today. Given limitations of space, though, I will not be able to motivate or defend the framework. Instead I will simply outline some of the main ideas. Also, to help make the discussion less abstract, I will focus on harming motivation and behavior, but the framework is intended to generalize to all domains of ou…Read more
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35Review of Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (ed.), Moral Psychology, Volume 3: The Neuroscience of Morality: Emotion, Brain Disorders, and Development (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2009 (7). 2009.This is the third of three volumes on moral psychology edited by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and published by MIT Press in 2008.
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2The Psychology of VirtueIn Alejo José G. Sison, Gregory Beabout & Ignacio Ferrero (eds.), Handbook on Virtue Ethics in Business and Management, Springer. pp. 491-500. 2017.This chapter provides a brief overview of recent work in psychology on virtue, with a focus on the implications of that research for business. It begins by characterizing what is involved in having a virtuous character trait. It then reviews some of the claims made in two of the leading research traditions on traits in psychology: situationism and the Big Five model. Finally it ends with an application of research on the Big Five trait of conscientiousness to the business environment.
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187Moral Relativism and Moral PsychologyIn Steven Hales (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Relativism, Blackwell. 2011.Much recent work in meta-ethics and ethical theory has drawn extensively on claims about moral psychology. The goal of this paper is to provide a broad overview of some of these claims and the implications that certain philosophers are taking them to have for the plausibility of moral relativism.
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58Review of Kristján Kristjánsson's Virtues and Vices in Positive Psychology: A Philosophical Critique (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. 2015.Kristján Kristjánsson's new book is the first detailed treatment of positive psychology from a philosophical perspective (at least as far as I am aware). Kristjánsson has been an active contributor to a number of debates in recent years at the intersection of moral philosophy, psychology, and education, and brings his vast familiarity with the relevant literature to bear in engaging with this movement. The result is a book that raises a number of good questions and concerns about positive psycho…Read more
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73Gert on Subjective Practical RationalityEthical Theory and Moral Practice 11 (5): 551-561. 2008.The purpose of this paper is to consider Joshua Gert’s novel view of subjective practical rationality in his book Brute Rationality. After briefly outlining the account, I present two objections to his view and then consider his own objections to a rival approach to understanding subjective rationality which I take to be much more plausible.
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1Some Foundational Questions about CharacterIn Miller Christian (ed.), Character: New Perspectives in Psychology, Philosophy, and Theology, Oxford University Press. pp. 19-40. 2015.This chapter for our edited volume (Character: New Directions from Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology) provides background material on what we consider to be several of the fundamental questions about character, such as whether character traits exist, what their makeup is, and how they can be improved.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Religion |
Meta-Ethics |
Normative Ethics |