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52Physician Deception and Patient AutonomyAmerican Journal of Bioethics 9 (12): 22-23. 2009.No abstract
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46An Epistemological Defense of DemocracyCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 22 (2): 281-291. 2010.Folk epistemology—the idea that one can't help believing that one's beliefs are true—provides an alternative to political theorists' inadequate defenses of democracy. It implicitly suggests a dialectical, truth-seeking norm for dealing with people who do not share one's own beliefs. Folk epistemology takes us beyond Mill's consequentialist claim for democracy (that the free array of opinions in a deliberative democracy leads us to the truth); instead, the epistemic freedom of the democratic proc…Read more
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92Evolution, Intelligent Design and Public Education: A Comment on Thomas NagelSpontaneous Generations 3 (1): 35-40. 2009.Thomas Nagel recently proposed that the exclusion of Intelligent Design from science classrooms is inappropriate and that there needs to be room for “noncommittal discussion.” It is shown that Nagel’s policy proposals do not ?t the conclusions of his arguments
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139Clarifying Cohen: A Response to Jubb and HallRes Publica 19 (4): 371-379. 2013.In this brief essay, we clarify Cohen’s ‘Facts and Principles’ argument, and then argue that the objections posed by two recent critiques of Cohen—Robert Jubb (Res Publica 15:337–353, 2009) and Edward Hall (Res Publica 19:173–181, 2013)—look especially vulnerable to the charge of being self-defeating. It may still be that Cohen’s view concerning facts and principles is false. Our aim here is merely to show that two recent attempts to demonstrate its falsity are unlikely to succeed
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25Abortion Activism and Civil Discourse: Reply to ShieldsCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 20 (1): 167-179. 2008.Jon Shields's finding—that certain evangelical pro‐life activist groups are more interested in deliberative discussions about abortion than are pro‐choice activists—is wrong on methodological, normative, and philosophical grounds. He generalizes about pro‐life civility from a small, trained sample group, and ignores possibly important variables that would explain pro‐choicers' incivility. Further, politeness is not necessarily a requirement of democratic deliberation—which entails not forcing on…Read more
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72Debate: Pragmatist Epistemology and Democratic Theory: A Reply to Eric MacGilvrayJournal of Political Philosophy 22 (3): 366-376. 2014.
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19Nagel on Public Education and Intelligent DesignJournal of Philosophical Research 35 209-219. 2010.In a recent article, Thomas Nagel argues against the court’s decision to strike down the Dover school district’s requirement that biology teachers in Dover public schools inform their students about Intelligent Design. Nagel contends that this ruling relies on questionable demarcation between science and nonscience and consequently misapplies the Establishment Clause of the constitution. Instead, he argues in favor of making room for an open discussion of these issues rather than an outright pro…Read more
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32Luck Libertarianism? A Critique of Tan’s Institutional ViewSouthwest Philosophy Review 31 (1): 187-196. 2015.
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3John Dewey's Essays in Experimental Logic (edited book)Southern Illinois University Press. 2007._Offering a new edition of Dewey’s 1916 collection of essays_ This critical edition of John Dewey’s 1916 collection of writings on logic, _Essays in Experimental Logic—_in which Dewey presents his concept of logic as the theory of inquiry and his unique and innovative development of the relationship of inquiry to experience—is the first scholarly reprint of the work in one volume since 1954. _Essays in Experimental Logic, _edited by D. Micah Hester and Robert B. Talisse, uses the authoritative t…Read more
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42An Epistemological Defense of DemocracyCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 22 (2-3): 281-291. 2010.Folk epistemology—the idea that one can't help believing that one's beliefs are true—provides an alternative to political theorists' inadequate defenses of democracy. It implicitly suggests a dialectical, truth-seeking norm for dealing with people who do not share one's own beliefs. Folk epistemology takes us beyond Mill's consequentialist claim for democracy (that the free array of opinions in a deliberative democracy leads us to the truth); instead, the epistemic freedom of the democratic proc…Read more
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11Political Philosophy in the Twenty-First Century: Essential Essays (edited book)Westview Press. 2012.Moving beyond the work of Rawls and his critics, this concise collection contains critical essays in contemporary political philosophy. All have been chosen for their importance and accessibility, and some have been edited by their authors for inclusion in this work. Political Philosophy in the Twenty-First Century covers five main topics: equality, justice, liberty, democracy, and human rights. To assist readers, the editors have also provided section introduction and study questions as well as…Read more
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1Three Challenges To Jamesian EthicsWilliam James Studies 6 3-9. 2011.Classical pragmatism is committed to the thought that philosophy must be relevant to ordinary life. This commitment is frequently employed critically: to show that some idea is irrelevant to ordinary life is to prove it to be expendable. But the commitment is also constructive: pragmatists must strive to make their positive views relevant. Accordingly, one would expect the classical pragmatists to have fixed their attention on ethics, since this is the area of philosophy most attuned to everyday…Read more
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252Nagel on Public Education and Intelligent DesignJournal of Philosophical Research 35 209-219. 2010.In a recent article, Thomas Nagel argues against the court’s decision to strike down the Dover school district’s requirement that biology teachers in Dover public schools inform their students about Intelligent Design. Nagel contends that this ruling relies on questionable demarcation between science and nonscience and consequently misapplies the Establishment Clause of the constitution. Instead, he argues in favor of making room for an open discussion of these issues rather than an outright pro…Read more
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65Dewey's logical theory: new studies and interpretations (edited book)Vanderbilt University Press. 2002.The essays in this collection address different aspects of Dewey's philosophy of logic, from his work at the beginning of the twentieth century to the culmination of his logical thought in the 1938 volume, Logic: The Theory of Inquiry.
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19Why We Argue : A Guide to Political DisagreementRoutledge. 2013.Why We Argue : A Guide to Political Disagreement presents an accessible and engaging introduction to the theory of argument, with special emphasis on the way argument works in public political debate. The authors develop a view according to which proper argument is necessary for one’s individual cognitive health; this insight is then expanded to the collective health of one’s society. Proper argumentation, then, is seen to play a central role in a well-functioning democracy. Written in a lively …Read more
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90Rockmore on analytic pragmatismMetaphilosophy 39 (2): 155-162. 2008.Aikin and Talisse reply to Rockmore's case against the 'analytic pragmatist' tradition.
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55Why We Argue: A Sketch of an Epistemic-Democratic ProgramInquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines 29 (2): 60-67. 2014.This essay summarizes the research program developed in our new book, Why We Argue (And How We Should): A Guide to Political Disagreement (Routledge, 2014). Humans naturally want to know and to take themselves as having reason on their side. Additionally, many people take democracy to be a uniquely proper mode of political arrangement. There is an old tension between reason and democracy, however, and it was first articulated by Plato. Plato’s concern about democracy was that it detached politic…Read more
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29On Epistemic Abstemiousness and Diachronic Norms: A Reply to BundyLogos and Episteme 3 (1): 125-130. 2012.In “On Epistemic Abstemiousness,” Alex Bundy has advanced his criticism of our view that the Principle of Suspension yields serious diachronic irrationality. Here, we defend the diachronic perspective on epistemic norms and clarify how we think the diachronic consequences follow.
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557Epistemic Abstainers, Epistemic Martyrs, and Epistemic ConvertsLogos and Episteme 1 (2): 211-219. 2010.An intuitive view regarding the epistemic significance of disagreement says that when epistemic peers disagree, they should suspend judgment. This abstemious view seems to embody a kind of detachment appropriate for rational beings; moreover, it seems to promote a kind of conciliatory inclination that makes for irenic and cooperative further discussion. Like many strategies for cooperation, however, the abstemious view creates opportunities for free-riding. In this essay, the authors argue that …Read more
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142Modus TonensArgumentation 22 (4): 521-529. 2008.Restating an interlocutor’s position in an incredulous tone of voice can sometimes serve legitimate dialectical ends. However, there are cases in which incredulous restatement is out of bounds. This article provides an analysis of one common instance of the inappropriate use of incredulous restatement, which the authors call “modus tonens.” The authors argue that modus tonens is vicious because it pragmatically implicates the view that one’s interlocutor is one’s cognitive subordinate and provid…Read more
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Vanderbilt UniversityDepartment of Philosophy
Department of Political ScienceW. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy
Areas of Interest
Value Theory |
Philosophical Traditions |
Philosophy, Misc |
History of Western Philosophy |