profile picture

David Schmidtz

University of Arizona
 More details
Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics
Meta-Ethics
Normative Ethics
Social and Political Philosophy
  •  64
    What Does Egalitarianism Require?
    Social Philosophy and Policy 39 (2): 1-12. 2022.
    Rawlsian theory notoriously claims that basic principles of justice apply to the design of a society’s basic structure. G. A. Cohen found it disturbingly convenient to treat fundamental principles as merely political rather than personal—that is, as applying exclusively to questions of institutional design and saying nothing about how to live. Instead, to Cohen, a sincere champion of egalitarian principles would, as they say, “walk the talk.”
    Egalitarianism
  • Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, Volume 6
    Oxford University Press. 2017.
  •  89
    Justifying Taxation
    with Mario J. Rizzo and Richard A. Epstein
    Social Philosophy and Policy 39 (1): 1-10. 2022.
    Taxation is more than one thing. Taxes can be levied in various ways on various things, with varying effects on a culture and an economy, and raising different challenges of justification.
    Value Theory
  •  66
    An Environmental Proposal for Ethics: the Principle of Integrity
    Environmental Values 4 (4): 371-372. 1995.
    Environmental ValueIntegrity
  • Virtue Ethics and Repugnant Conclusions
    with Matt Zwolinski
    In , Rowman & Littlefield. 2005.
    Virtue Ethics
  •  68
    The Tragedy of the Commons
    with Elizabeth Willott
    In R. G. Frey & Christopher Heath Wellman (eds.), A Companion to Applied Ethics, Wiley-blackwell. 2008.
    This chapter contains sections titled: The Logic of the Commons Private Property as a Solution to Commons Problems Example: A Successful Privatization An Alternative Solution: Communal Management The Open Access Commons: A Different Sort of Problem Custom Extending the Framework Overpopulation Conclusion.
  •  38
    Psychological Freedom, the Last Frontier: 1963
    with Jason Brennan
    In David Schmidtz & Jason Brennan (eds.), Brief History of Liberty, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: From Metaphysics to Psychology Shackled by Social Pressure Shackled by Self‐Deception Shackled by Discontent Solutions Shackled by the Dearth of Shackles Discussion Acknowledgments.
  •  42
    Introduction: Conceptions of Freedom
    with Jason Brennan
    In David Schmidtz & Jason Brennan (eds.), Brief History of Liberty, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Histories of Liberties Institutions Discussion Acknowledgments.
  •  35
    Civil Liberty: 1954
    with Jason Brennan
    In David Schmidtz & Jason Brennan (eds.), Brief History of Liberty, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Must Liberty and Equality Come Apart? Freedom of Conscience Self‐Ownership and Universal Suffrage Slavery Women's Rights The Cold War Thurgood Marshall Discussion Acknowledgments.
  •  33
    Religious Freedom: 1517
    with Jason Brennan
    In David Schmidtz & Jason Brennan (eds.), Brief History of Liberty, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Early Religious Freedom The Eve of Revolution Luther and Liberalism John Knox and the Scottish Enlightenment Natural Law Toward Religious Freedom Conclusion Discussion.
  •  53
    Freedom of Commerce: 1776
    with Jason Brennan
    In David Schmidtz & Jason Brennan (eds.), Brief History of Liberty, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Freedom from Poverty Freedom from War Ingredients of Commercial Progress Smith's Nineteenth‐Century Legacy66 Smith's Twentieth‐Century Legacy When Formal Freedom Is Enough Discussion.
  •  60
    The Rule of Law: AD 1075
    with Jason Brennan
    In David Schmidtz & Jason Brennan (eds.), Brief History of Liberty, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Feudalism Magna Carta28 The Basic Idea: No One Is Above the Law The Modern West Takes Shape From Law to Commerce Equality Before the Law Conclusion Discussion Acknowledgments.
  •  40
    Index
    with Jason Brennan
    In David Schmidtz & Jason Brennan (eds.), Brief History of Liberty, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Prehistory of Commerce Prehistory of Technology Prehistory of Slavery From Prehistory to History Rome and Christianity Acknowledgments.
  •  44
    State, Civil Society, and Classical Liberalism
    with Steven Scalet
    In Nancy L. Rosenblum & Robert C. Post (eds.), Civil Society and Government, Princeton University Press. pp. 26-47. 2001.
    Civil SocietyLiberalism
  •  76
    The administrative state
    with Mario I. Juarez-Garcia
    Social Philosophy and Policy 38 (1): 1-5. 2021.
    There has always been a tension, in theory, between the public accountability and the professional efficiency of the agencies of the administrative state. How has that tension been handled? What would it be like for it to be well handled?
    States and NationsPolitical Theory
  •  128
    Review of John Christman: The Myth of Property: Toward an Egalitarian Theory of Ownership (review)
    Ethics 106 (1): 200-202. 1995.
    Value TheoryProperty
  •  53
    Person, Polis, planet: Essays in applied philosophy * by David Schmidtz
    Analysis 69 (3): 580-582. 2009.
    In ‘Choosing Ends’, Schmidtz defines a new kind of end to join the familiar categories of final, instrumental and constitutive ends: namely, maieutic ends. A maieutic end is an end which ‘gives birth to’ another end. For example, Kate wants to have a goal in life, in particular a career; so having a career is a maieutic end which ‘gives birth to’ her career in medicine. …
  •  101
    Book Reviews Gomberg, Paul . How to Make Opportunity Equal . Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007. Pp. vii+184
    Ethics 120 (1): 184-188. 2009.
    Value TheoryEquality of Opportunity
  •  66
    A realistic political ideal
    Social Philosophy and Policy 33 (1-2): 1-10. 2016.
    Value Theory
  •  59
    An Anatomy of Corruption
    Social Philosophy and Policy 35 (2): 1-11. 2018.
    Which social arrangements have a history of fostering progress and prosperity? One quick answer, falsely attributed to Adam Smith, holds that we are guided as if by an invisible hand to do what builds the wealth of nations. A more sober answer, closer to what Smith said and believed, is thatifthe right framework of rules—plus decent officiating—steers us away from buying and selling monopoly privilege and steers us toward being valuable to the people around us, we indeed will be part of the engi…Read more
    Value Theory
  •  31
    New essays in moral philosophy (edited book)
    with Fred D. Miller and Jeffrey Paul
    Cambridge University Press. 2013.
  •  74
    Living together: inventing moral science
    Oxford University Press. 2023.
    Is moral philosophy more foundational than political philosophy? In other words, is "how to live?" more fundamental than "how to live together?" We were trained to say yes, but there was never any reason to believe it. Must rigorous reflection on how to live aim to derive necessary truths from timeless axioms, ignoring ephemeral contingencies of time and place? In the 1800s, philosophy left the contingencies to emerging departments of social science. Where did that leave philosophy? Did cutting …Read more
    History of Ethics
  •  50
    Science, Technology, and Value
    Social Philosophy and Policy 38 (2): 1-10. 2021.
    Technological innovations and scientific discoveries do not occur in a vacuum but instead leave us needing to reimagine what we thought we knew about the human condition.
  • Interdisciplinary Handbooks in Philosophy: Environmental Ethics (edited book)
    Environmental Ethics
  •  2
    Environmental Ethics: What Really Matters, What Really Works, 2nd Edition (edited book)
    with Elizabeth Willott
    Environmental Ethics
  •  22
    Philosophy: Environmental Ethics (edited book)
    Macmillan. 2016.
    The Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks: Philosophy series serves undergraduate college students who have had little or no exposure to philosophy, as well as the curious lay reader. Following this first primer volume, which introduces both the discipline and the topics of the remaining nine volumes, each handbook will usher the reader into a subfield of philosophy, and explore fifteen to thirty topics in that subfield. Every chapter in each volume will use vehicles such as film to facilitate u…Read more
    Environmental Ethics
  •  91
    David Schmidtz and the Nature and Features of Corruption
    University of Arizona Philosopher David Schmidtz discusses the nature and features of corruption, and how concentrated power may aggravate corruption problems.
  •  64
    Freedom of thought
    Social Philosophy and Policy 37 (2): 1-8. 2020.
    This essay introduces basic issues that make up the topic of freedom of thought, including newly emerging issues raised by the current proliferation of Internet search algorithms.
    Value Theory
  •  57
    The problem of self-ownership
    with Bas van der Vossen
    Social Philosophy and Policy 36 (2): 1-8. 2019.
    Value Theory
  •  54
    Origins of political economy
    Social Philosophy and Policy 37 (1): 1-9. 2020.
    Our modern observation-based approaches to the study of the human condition were shaped by the Scottish Enlightenment. Political Economy emerged as a discipline of its own in the nineteenth century, then fragmented further around the dawn of the twentieth century. Today, we see Political Economy’s pieces being reassembled and reunited with their philosophical roots. This issue pauses to reflect on the history of this new but also old field of study.