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99Gripped by authorityCanadian Journal of Philosophy 48 (3-4): 313-336. 2018.Moral judgments are typically experienced as being categorically authoritative – i.e. as having a prescriptive force that is motivationally gripping independently of both conventional norms and one's pre-existing desires, and justificationally trumps both conventional norms and one's pre-existing desires. We argue that this key feature is best accommodated by the meta-ethical position we call ‘cognitivist expressivism’, which construes moral judgments as sui generis psychological states whose di…Read more
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11Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, Vol 7 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2017.OSNE is an annual forum for new work in normative ethical theory. Leading philosophers advance our understanding of a wide range of moral issues and positions, from analysis of competing normative theories to questions of how we should act and live well. OSNE will be an essential resource for scholars and students working in moral philosophy.
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17Significance and System: Essays on Kant's EthicsOup Usa. 2017.This collection features 10 essays on a variety of topics in Kant's ethics. Part 1 addresses questions about the interpretation and justification of the categorical imperative. Part 2 is concerned with the doctrine of virtue, while part 3 delves into various issues pertaining to Kant's moral psychology of evil.
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1Evil And Imputation In Kant's EthicsJahrbuch für Recht Und Ethik 2. 1994.For Kant, moral evil of all sorts - evil that is rooted in a person's character - is manifested in action which, on the one hand, is explicable in terms of an agent's own reasons for action and so imputable, though on the other hand it is, in some sense, irrational. Because such evil is rooted in a person's character, it "corrupts the ground of all maxims" and thus deserves to be called radical evil. Moreover, according to Kant, not only are human beings susceptible to such evil, being evil is a…Read more
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8Mark Timmons, ed., Kant's Metaphysics of Morals: Interpretative Essays (review)Philosophical Review 115 (3): 399-403. 2006.
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38Review of N. T. Potter and Mark Timmons: Morality and Universality: Essays on Ethical Universalizability (review)Ethics 98 (2): 390-391. 1988.
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15Morality and Universality: Essays on Ethical UniversalizabilitySpringer Verlag. 2012.In the past 25 years or so, the issue of ethical universalizability has figured prominently in theoretical as well as practical ethics. The term, 'universaliz ability' used in connection with ethical considerations, was apparently first introduced in the mid-1950s by R. M. Hare to refer to what he characterized as a logical thesis about certain sorts of evaluative sentences (Hare, 1955). The term has since been used to cover a broad variety of ethical considerations including those associated wi…Read more
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571This chapter argues for an interpretation of Kant's psychology of moral evil that accommodates the so-called excluded middle cases and allows for variations in the magnitude of evil. The strategy involves distinguishing Kant's transcendental psychology from his empirical psychology and arguing that Kant's character rigorism is restricted to the transcendental level. The chapter also explains how Kant's theory of moral evil accommodates 'the badass'; someone who does evil for evil's sake.
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1199Outline of a Contextualist Moral EpistemologyIn Walter Sinnott-Armstrong & Mark Timmons (eds.), Moral knowledge?: new readings in moral epistemology, Oxford University Press. 1996.
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A.C. Ewing's First and Second Thoughts about MetaethicsIn Thomas Hurka (ed.), Underivative duty: British moral philosophers from Sidgwick to Ewing, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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The Philosophical and Practical Significance of Kant’s Universality Formulations of the Categorical ImperativeJahrbuch für Recht Und Ethik 13. 2005.
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136Review: Andrews Reath: Agency and Autonomy in Kant's Moral Theory (review)Mind 117 (467): 722-727. 2008.
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63On the epistemic status of considered moral judgmentsSouthern Journal of Philosophy 29 (S1): 97-129. 1991.
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Morality without Foundations: A Defense of Moral ContextualismPhilosophical Quarterly 51 (202): 124-127. 2001.
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43Contradictions and the Categorical ImperativeArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 66 (3): 294-312. 1984.
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71Conduct and character: readings in moral theory (edited book)Cengage Learning [distributor]. 2012.CONDUCT AND CHARACTER is a concise anthology of readings in ethical theory that covers the major schools of thought as well as a handful of fundamental topics in ethical theory. Reading selections in the chapters provide coverage of both classical and contemporary philosophical writings, representing a spectrum of viewpoints on each theory or topic. The readings include brief introductions to assist students in identifying key ideas and have been selected and edited in order to optimize student …Read more
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48Necessitation and Justification in Kant’s EthicsCanadian Journal of Philosophy 22 (2): 223-261. 1992.In the Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, Kant claims that hypothetical imperatives are analytic and that categorical imperatives are synthetic. This claim plays a crucial role in Kant’s attempt to establish moral ‘oughts’ as categorically binding on all rational agents, for by classifying moral statements according to this distinction, Kant hopes to uncover the sort of justification required to establish such statements. However, Kant’s application of the analytic/ synthetic distinction to…Read more
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20On the Relevance of Metaethics: New Essays on MetaethicsPhilosophical Review 107 (3): 452. 1998.
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26Review of H.A. Prichard, W.d. Ross, Moral Writings and the Right and the Good (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2003 (10). 2003.
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25On the Epistemic Status of Considered Moral JudgmentsSouthern Journal of Philosophy 29 (S1): 97-129. 1991.
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39Review: Hill, Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant's Moral Theory (review)Ethics 104 (2): 398-. 1994.
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47Moral Justification in ContextThe Monist 76 (3): 360-378. 1993.Traditionally, work in epistemology has been dominated by two general approaches: foundationalism and coherentism. Epistemological contextualism, which has its roots in the writings of pragmatists like Dewey and in the later Wittgenstein, represents an alternative to the dominant views, but an alternative that is typically ignored. Poor management and bad press have certainly contributed to lack of interest in this philosophical product. However, when it comes to philosophical questions about ju…Read more
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632Cognitivist expressivismIn Terry Horgan & Mark Timmons (eds.), Metaethics After Moore, Oxford University Press. pp. 255--298. 2006.
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9331Decision Procedures, Moral Criteria, and the Problem of Relevant Descriptions in Kant's EthicsIn B. Sharon Byrd, Joachim Hruschka & Jan C. Joerdan (eds.), Jahrbuch Für Recht Und Ethik, Duncker Und Humblot. 1997.I argue that the Universal Law formulation of the Categorical Imperative is best interpreted as a test or decision procedure of moral rightness and not as a criterion intended to explain the deontic status of actions. Rather, the Humanity formulation is best interpreted as a moral criterion. I also argue that because the role of a moral criterion is to explain, and thus specify what makes an action right or wrong, Kant's Humanity formulation yields a theory of relevant descriptions
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195Prolegomena to a future phenomenology of moralsPhenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 7 (1): 115-131. 2008.Moral phenomenology is (roughly) the study of those features of occurrent mental states with moral significance which are accessible through direct introspection, whether or not such states possess phenomenal character – a what-it-is-likeness. In this paper, as the title indicates, we introduce and make prefatory remarks about moral phenomenology and its significance for ethics. After providing a brief taxonomy of types of moral experience, we proceed to consider questions about the commonality …Read more
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17Contrastivism, Relevance Contextualism, and Meta‐SkepticismPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 77 (3): 802-810. 2008.
Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Meta-Ethics |
Epistemology |
Normative Ethics |