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30Reflections in a MirrorDiametros 41 1-12. 2014.In this paper, I develop a solution to the puzzle of mirror perception: why do mirrors appear to reverse the image of an object along a left/right axis and not around other axes, such as the top/bottom axis? I set out the different forms the puzzle takes and argue that one form of it – arguably the key form – has not been satisfactorily solved. I offer a solution in three parts: setting out the conditions in which an apparent left/right reversal of mirror images is generated; explaining why thes…Read more
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20Le Fils and the Limits of Philosophical EthicsSubstance 45 (3): 84-97. 2016.This paper is a study in contrasts. In the first part, I describe one prominent set of approaches to representing the ethical: those of analytic philosophy and the experimental moral psychology inspired by it. I argue that what is missing in this approach is a perspicuous representation of the ethical. The term “perspicuous representation” is drawn from the work of Wittgenstein, where it means a way of representing phenomena that reveals the inner connections between their parts or aspects and m…Read more
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42Scepticism and the InterpreterPhilosophical Papers 29 (2): 61-72. 2000.Abstract This paper defends an argument from interpretation against the possibility of massive error. The argument shares many important features with Donald Davidson's famous argument, but also key differences. I defend the argument against claims that it begs the question against scepticism and that it leaves the sceptic with an obvious means of escape
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30In this chapter I use a film by the Belgian filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Le Fils, to explore the difference between Stoic and Anti-Stoic approaches to overcoming victimhood. The Stoic approach to overcoming victimhood emphasizes the inner-strength and resourcefulness of victims. It sets up an ideal of Stoic independence in which a person responds to becoming a victim by marshalling inner resources to overcome destructive and painful emotions. An Anti-Stoic approach to overcoming vict…Read more
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111Integrity, commitment, and indirect consequentialismJournal of Value Inquiry 39 (1): 61-73. 2005.
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303Modelling the Moral Dimension of DecisionsNoûs 44 (3): 503-529. 2010.In this paper we explore the connections between ethics and decision theory. In particular, we consider the question of whether decision theory carries with it a bias towards consequentialist ethical theories. We argue that there are plausible versions of the other ethical theories that can be accommodated by “standard” decision theory, but there are also variations of these ethical theories that are less easily accommodated. So while “standard” decision theory is not exclusively consequentialis…Read more
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5Cartesian Questions: Method and Metaphysics (review)International Philosophical Quarterly 41 (2): 241-242. 2001.
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25Welcome to Su: the spectral universityAngelaki 21 (2): 213-226. 2016.While some may argue that universities are in a state of crisis, others claim that we are living in a post-university era; a time after universities. If there was a battle for the survival of the institution it is over and done with. The buildings still stand. Students enrol and may attend lectures, though most do not. But virtually nothing real remains. What some mistakenly take to be a university is, in actuality, an “uncanny” spectral presence. The encompassing ethico-philosophical question i…Read more
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28Review of Gerald Vision, Veritas: the correspondence theory and its critics (review)Philosophical Books 47 (3): 277-279. 2006.
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84Metaphysical realism and idealisationPhilosophia 26 (3-4): 465-487. 1998.Hilary Putnam's famous model-theoretic arguments have the virtue of presenting metaphysical realists with a clear challenge. On pain of embracing either an implausible antifallibilism or the radical indeterminacy of reference, metaphysical realists must appeal to metalinguistic levels of interpretation richer than our own in order to fix meaning. And sense must be made of this appeal. In this paper I begin the task of developing a version of metaphysical realism that takes up this challenge.
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60Violinists Run Amuck in South Dakota: Screen Doors Down in the Badlands!Philosophical Papers 35 (2): 267-281. 2006.Re-Reading: Judith Jarvis Thompson, 'A Defense of Abortion'
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347 Avatar: Racism and Prejudice on PandoraIn Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo & Dan Flory (eds.), Race, Philosophy, and Film, Routledge. pp. 50--117. 2013.
Areas of Specialization
Normative Ethics |
Value Theory, Miscellaneous |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Normative Ethics |
Value Theory, Miscellaneous |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Aesthetics |