•  397
    Philosophical Misanthropy
    Philosophy Now 139 28-31. 2020.
    A short piece on philosophy and misanthropy.
  •  383
    Is Naturalism Bleak? A Reply to Holland and Cottingham
    Environmental Values 22 (6): 689-702. 2013.
    Although Cottingham and Holland make a persuasive case for the claim that it is difficult to situate a meaningful life within a Darwinian naturalistic cosmology, this paper argues that their case should be modified in response to the apparent fact that certain persons seem genuinely not to experience the ‘bleakness’ that they describe. Although certain of these cases will reflect an incomplete appreciation of the existential implications of Darwinian naturalism, at least some of those cases may …Read more
  •  381
    Other histories, other sciences
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 61 57-60. 2017.
    An essay review of Léna Soler, Emiliano Trizio, and Andrew Pickering (eds.), Science As It Could Have Been: Discussing the Contingency/Inevitability Problem (Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press)
  •  372
    Suffering and Transformative Experience
    with Havi Carel
    In David Bain, Michael Brady & Jennifer Corns (eds.), The Philosophy of Suffering: Metaphysics, Value, and Normativity, Routledge. pp. 165-179. 2020.
    In this chapter we suggest that many experiences of suffering can be further illuminated as forms of transformative experience, using the term coined by L.A. Paul. Such suffering experiences arise from the vulnerability, dependence, and affliction intrinsic to the human condition. Such features can create a variety of positively, negatively, and ambivalently valanced forms of epistemically and personally transformative experiences, as we detail here. We argue that the productive element of suffe…Read more
  •  364
    Humility, Contingency, and Pluralism in the Sciences
    In Mark Alfano, Michael Patrick Lynch & Alessandra Tanesini (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Humility, Routledge. pp. 346-358. 2021.
    A chapter exploring the relations between humility and the sciences.
  •  357
    From Vice Epistemology to Critical Character Epistemology
    In Mark Alfano, Colin Klein & Jeroen de Ridder (eds.), Social Virtue Epistemology, Routledge. pp. 84-102. 2022.
    I sketch out a specific form of vice epistemology that I call critical character epistemology.
  •  353
    Creativity in Science and the ‘Anthropological Turn’ in Virtue Theory
    European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (1): 1-16. 2020.
    I argue that philosophical studies of the virtues of creativity should attend to the ways that our conceptions of human creativity may be grounded in conceptions of human nature or the nature of reality. I consider and reject claims in this direction made by David Bohm and Paul Feyerabend. The more compelling candidate is the account of science, creativity, and human nature developed by the early Marx. Its guiding claim is that the forms of creativity enabled by the sciences are ultimately valua…Read more
  •  349
    Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare: A Philosophical Analysis
    with Havi Carel
    Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 17 (4): 529-540. 2014.
    In this paper we argue that ill persons are particularly vulnerable to epistemic injustice in the sense articulated by Fricker. Ill persons are vulnerable to testimonial injustice through the presumptive attribution of characteristics like cognitive unreliability and emotional instability that downgrade the credibility of their testimonies. Ill persons are also vulnerable to hermeneutical injustice because many aspects of the experience of illness are difficult to understand and communicate and …Read more
  •  338
    Spiritual exemplars
    International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 79 (4): 410-424. 2018.
    This paper proposes that spiritual persons are an excellent focus for the study of 'living religion' and offers a methodology for doing so. By ‘spiritual persons’, I have in mind both exemplary figures – like Jesus or the Buddha – and the multitude of ‘ordinary’ spiritual persons whose lives are led in aspiration to the spiritual goods the exemplars manifest (enlightenment, say, or holiness). I start with Linda Zagzebski's recent argument that moral persuasion primarily occurs through encounters…Read more
  •  335
    A review of David E. Cooper's book, "Animals and Misanthropy", which argues that reflection on awful treatment of animals justifies a negative critical judgment on human life and culture.
  •  331
    Martial Metaphors and Argumentative Virtues and Vices
    In Alessandra Tanesini & Michael P. Lynch (eds.), Polarisation, Arrogance, and Dogmatism: Philosophical Perspectives, Routledge. pp. 25-38. 2021.
    This chapter challenges the common claim that vicious forms of argumentative practice, like interpersonal arrogance and discursive polarisation, are caused by martial metaphors, such as ARGUMENT AS WAR. I argue that the problem isn’t the metaphor, but our wider practices of metaphorising and the ways they are deformed by invidious cultural biases and prejudices. Drawing on feminist argumentation theory, I argue that misogynistic cultures distort practices of metaphorising in two ways. First, the…Read more
  •  318
  •  298
    The Predicament of Patients
    with Havi Carel
    Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 89 65-74. 2021.
    In this paper we propose that our understanding of pathocentric epistemic injustices can be enriched if they are theorised in terms of predicaments. These are the wider socially scaffolded structures of epistemic challenges, dangers, needs, and threats experienced by ill persons due to their particular emplacement within material, social, and epistemic structures. In previous work we have described certain aspects of these predicaments - pathocentric epistemic injustices, pathophobia, and so on.…Read more
  •  292
    This paper offers an overview of the philosophical work on epistemic injustices as it relates to psychiatry. After describing the development of epistemic injustice studies, we survey the existing literature on its application to psychiatry. We describe how the concept of epistemic injustice has been taken up into a range of debates in philosophy of psychiatry, including the nature of psychiatric conditions, psychiatric practices and research, and ameliorative projects. The final section of the …Read more
  •  291
    Varieties of Philosophical Humanism and Conceptions of Science
    In A forthcoming volume on science and humanism, Chicago University Press. forthcoming.
    This chapter describes some of the varieties of philosophical humanism and different conceptions of, and attitudes towards, the natural sciences. I focus on three kinds of humanism evident in 20th century European philosophy – humanism as essentialism, humanism as rational subjectivity, and existential humanism. Some are strongly allied to the sciences, others are antipathetic to them, while others offer subtler positions. By emphasising this diversity, I want to oppose claims about the inevitab…Read more
  •  261
    Happiness for a Fish: Zhuāngzǐ and Huizi at the Hao River
    In Helen De Cruz (ed.), Philosophy Illustrated, Oxford University Press. pp. 57-60. 2021.
    I discuss the famous 'happiness for a fish' exchange between Zhuāngzǐ and Huizi.
  •  258
    Trade-offs, Backfires and Curriculum Diversification
    Symposion: Theoretical and Applied Inquiries in Philosophy and Social Sciences 7 (2): 179-193. 2020.
    This paper presents two challenges faced by many initiatives that try to diversify undergraduate philosophy curricula, both intellectually and demographically. Trade-offs involve making difficult decisions to prioritise some values over others (like gender diversity over cultural diversity). Backfires involve unintended consequences contrary to the aims and values of diversity initiatives, including ones that compromise more general philosophical values. I discuss two specific backfire risks, in…Read more
  •  252
    Conceptions of Philosophy and the Challenges of Scientism
    In Moti Mizrahi (ed.), Scientism: For and Against, Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 75-86. 2022.
    I suspect many philosophers feel the deep reason the topic of scientism matters is that it wrongly questions or impugns the integrity and significance of the discipline of philosophy. Such metaphilosophical concerns may not always be at the forefront during debates about scientism. Sometimes, though, we should engage much broader metaphilosophical issues.
  •  242
    Knowing What To Order at the Conference Dinner
    Apa Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy 20 (3): 19-21. 2021.
    A conference dinner at a restaurant is a good place for considering the interactions of class, race, economic privilege, professional comportment, and the culturally coded forms of sophistication that have been built into the discipline. Much needs to be changed and a really good place to start is by appreciating these realities.
  •  241
    Mary Midgley argued that philosophy was a necessity, not a luxury. It's difficulties lie partly in the fact that, when doing it, we are struggling not only against the difficulty of the subject matter, but also certain tendencies within ourselves. I focus on two - one-way reductionism and myopic specialisation.
  •  232
    A Pluralist Account of Spiritual Exemplarity
    In Tyler McNabb & Victoria S. Harrison (eds.), Philosophy and the Spiritual Life, Routledge. 2023.
    This Chapter sketches a pluralist account of spiritual exemplarity. Starting from recent work by Linda Zagzebski, three main kinds of spiritual exemplarity are described, distinguished by their underlying aspiration. I name these the aspirations to allegiance, enlightened insight, and emulation, illustrated with examples from the Western and South and East Asian spiritual dispensations. The Chapter concludes by warning against tendencies either to occlude this plurality or to illicitly privilege…Read more
  •  226
    Confidence, Humility, and Hubris in Nineteenth Century Philosophies
    In Herman Paul & Jeroen van Dongen (eds.), Epistemic Virtues in the Sciences and the Humanities, Springer Verlag. pp. 11-25. 2017.
    Most historians explains changes in conceptions of the epistemic virtues and vices in terms of social and historical developments. I argue that such approaches, valuable as they are, neglect the fact that certain changes also reflect changes in metaphysical sensibilities. Certain epistemic virtues and vices are defined relative to an estimate of our epistemic situation that is, in turn, defined by a broader vision or picture of the nature of reality. I defend this claim by charting changing conc…Read more
  •  222
    Gardens and the Good Life in Confucianism and Daoism
    In Laura D’Olimpio, Panos Paris & Aidan Thompson (eds.), Educating Character Through the Arts, Routledge. pp. 125-139. 2022.
    Creating and caring for a garden is a long-term project whose success requires commitment and devotion and love and proper performance of a range of activities that involve virtues and sensibilities like attentiveness, carefulness, humility, imaginativeness, and sensitivity to the natures and needs of plants and animals. In this chapter, I elaborate this conception of gardens and explore its relationship to artistic activities, like composing poetry or performing music. My focus are Confucianism…Read more
  •  201
    Corrupted Temporalities, ‘Cultures of Speed’, and the Possibility of Collegiality
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 55 (3): 330-342. 2023.
    This paper describes a neglected aspect of the critique of academic ‘cultures of speed’ offered by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber in The Slow Professor. I argue internalisation of the values and imperatives of cultures of speed can encourage the erosion of a range of academic virtues while also facilitating the development of a range of academic vices. I focus on the ways that an internalised ‘psychology of speed’ erodes our capacity to exercise the virtues of intellectual beneficence – excellen…Read more
  •  195
    Feyerabend, science, and scientism
    In Karim Bschir & Jamie Shaw (eds.), Interpreting Feyerabend: Critical Essays, Cambridge University Press. 2021.
    I argue that a main theme Feyerabend's philosophical work was a critique of scientism. This devolves into two sub-critiques - a critique of conceptions of science's self-understanding and a critique of scientific cultures. The former is more compelling and more aligned with mainstream themes in Anglophone analytical philosophy of science, the latter is less developed but more resonant with themes in feminist, postcolonial and 'continental' forms of philosophy of science.
  •  184
    In this paper, I explore the relationship of virtue, argumentation, and philosophical conduct by considering the role of the specific virtue of intellectual humility in the practice of philosophical argumentation. I have three aims: first, to sketch an account of this virtue; second, to argue that it can be cultivated by engaging in argumentation with others; and third, to problematize this claim by drawing upon recent data from social psychology. My claim is that philosophical argumentation can…Read more
  •  181
    Character, Corruption, and ‘Cultures of Speed’ in Higher Education
    In Ainé Mahon (ed.), Philosophical Perspectives on the Contemporary University: In Shadows and Light, Springer. pp. 17-28. 2022.
    This chapter offers a character-based criticism of ‘the culture of speed’ condemned by the Canadian literary scholars, Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber in their influential polemic, The Slow Professor. Central to their criticisms of speed and praise of slowness are, I argue, substantive concerns about their effects on moral and intellectual character. I argue that a full reckoning of the wrongs of academic cultures of speed must include appreciation of the ways they promote a host of accelerative …Read more
  •  180
    From Vices to Corruption to Misanthropy
    Theologica 7 (2). 2023.
    The main part of the paper describes the deep connections between the concepts of vices, corruption, and misanthropy. I argue that the full significance of the concept of human vices or failings is only fully appreciated when it is connected to an account of the ways that our social practices and institutions are corrupting, in the sense of facilitating or encouraging the development and exercise of those failings. Moreover, reflection on failings and corruption can lead us to misanthropy, defin…Read more