• EJ Bond Ethics and Human Well-Being
    Journal of Applied Philosophy 15 114-115. 1998.
  •  731
    The paper outlines and explores a possible strategy for defending both the action/omission distinction (AOD) and the principle of double effect (PDE). The strategy is to argue that there are degrees of actionhood, and that we are in general less responsible for what has a lower degree of actionhood, because of that lower degree. Moreover, what we omit generally has a lower degree of actionhood than what we actively do, and what we do under known-but-not-intended descriptions generally has a lowe…Read more
  •  97
    A way out of Pettit's dilemma
    Philosophical Quarterly 51 (202): 95-99. 2001.
    Philip Pettit has argued, in ‘Non‐consequentialism and Universalizability’, PQ, 50 (2000), pp. 175–90, that there is a tension between non‐consequentialism and universalizability. In response I argue that Pettit's argument begs the question against the non‐consequentialist, because it falsely assumes that the non‐consequentialist must follow the consequentialist in neglecting the crucial distinction between promoting goods and respecting them.
  •  153
    Plato on knowledge in the theaetetus
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2008.
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article.
  •  166
    Timothy Chappell develops a picture of what philosophical ethics can be like, once set aside from conventional moral theory. His question is 'How are we to know what to do?', and the answer he defends is 'By developing our moral imaginations'--a key part of human excellence, which plays many roles in our practical and evaluative lives.
  •  43
    Human Values: New Essays on Ethics and Natural Law. 1st Edition (edited book)
    with David Simon Oderberg
    Palgrave-Macmillan. 2004.
    In recent decades, the revival of natural law theory in modern moral philosophy has been an exciting and important development. Human Values brings together an international group of moral philosophers who in various respects share the aims and ideals of natural law ethics. In their diverse ways, these authors make distinctive and original contributions to the continuing project of developing natural law ethics as a comprehensive treatment of modern ethical theory and practice.
  •  97
    Eudaimonia, Happiness, and the Redemption of Unhappiness
    Philosophical Topics 41 (1): 27-52. 2013.
    In this paper I argue for five theses. The first thesis is that ethicists should think about happiness and unhappiness together, with as much detail and particularity as possible. Thinking about unhappiness will help us get clear about happiness, and distinguish the different things that come under that name. The second is that happiness and unhappiness can both be important positively valuable features of a worthwhile life. The third thesis is that Modern Eudaimonism, the claim that every reaso…Read more
  •  215
    The incompleat projectivist: How to be an objectivist and an attitudinist
    Philosophical Quarterly 48 (190): 50-66. 1998.
    What is at stake in the dispute between moral objectivism and subjectivism is how we are to give a rational grounding to ethical first principles or basic commitments. The search is for an explanation of what if anything makes any commitments good. Subjectivisms such as Blackburn's quasi‐realism can give any set of commitments no ‘rational grounding’ in this sense except in considerations about internal consistency. But this is inadequate. Internal consistency is not sufficient for ethical ratio…Read more
  •  13
    Book Reviews (review)
    Mind 105 (417): 181-186. 1996.
  • Reading the o: Theaetetus 170c-171c
    Phronesis: A Journal for Ancient Philosophy 51 (2): 109-139. 2006.
  •  30
    Ethics
    with Piers Benn
    Philosophical Quarterly 50 (200): 410-412. 1997.
    In this engaged and engaging survey Piers Benn examines the major currents of ethical theory, concentrating on sound reasoning about morality. Benn's account offers a qualified defence of Aristotelian virtue theory, while bringing out what is distinctive and valuable in a broad range of approaches, such as those of Kant and the Utilitarians. His examples emphasize the ordinary choices of everyday life - gossip, friendship, honesty, sexual relations, work, and self-realization.
  •  887
    Option ranges
    Journal of Applied Philosophy 18 (2). 2001.
    An option range is a set of alternative actions available to an agent at a given time. I ask how a moral theory’s account of option ranges relates to its recommendations about deliberative procedure (DP) and criterion of rightness (CR). I apply this question to Act Consequentialism (AC), which tells us, at any time, to perform the action with the best consequences in our option range then. If anyone can employ this command as a DP, or assess (direct or indirect) compliance with it as a CR, someo…Read more
  •  137
  •  5579
    Varieties of Knowledge in Plato and Aristotle
    Topoi 31 (2): 175-190. 2012.
    I develop the relatively familiar idea of a variety of forms of knowledge —not just propositional knowledge but also knowledge -how and experiential knowledge —and show how this variety can be used to make interesting sense of Plato’s and Aristotle’s philosophy, and in particular their ethics. I then add to this threefold analysis of knowledge a less familiar fourth variety, objectual knowledge, and suggest that this is also interesting and important in the understanding of Plato and Aristotle.
  •  516
    Ethics Beyond Moral Theory
    Philosophical Investigations 32 (3): 206-243. 2009.
    I develop an anti-theory view of ethics. Moral theory (Kantian, utilitarian, virtue ethical, etc.) is the dominant approach to ethics among academic philosophers. But moral theory's hunt for a single Master Factor (utility, universalisability, virtue...) is implausibly systematising and reductionist. Perhaps scientism drives the approach? But good science always insists on respect for the data, even messy data: I criticise Singer's remarks on infanticide as a clear instance of moral theory faili…Read more
  •  60
    Being Good (review)
    International Philosophical Quarterly 42 (2): 262-265. 2002.
  •  75
    Finite and Infinite Goods (review)
    Faith and Philosophy 19 (3): 373-378. 2002.
  •  61
    The Philosophy of the Environment
    with Sophie Grace Chappell
    Edinburgh University Press. 2020.
    The essays in this welcome collection put environmental thinking into the broader context of philosophical thought.
  •  65
    Critical study
    International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 2 (1): 65-75. 2008.
  •  144
    I compare the two main readings of the argument against Protagorean relativism that 'Socrates' presents at Theaetetus 170-171, argue against both of them, and present a third alternative reading.
  •  46
    An outline and discussion of Plato's changing views about the theory of knowledge.
  •  432
    Integrity and Demandingness
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 10 (3): 255-265. 2007.
    I discuss Bernard Williams’ ‘integrity objection’ – his version of the demandingness objection to unreasonably demanding ‘extremist’ moral theories such as consequentialism – and argue that it is best understood as presupposing the internal reasons thesis. However, since the internal reasons thesis is questionable, so is Williams’ integrity objection. I propose an alternative way of bringing out the unreasonableness of extremism, based on the notion of the agent’s autonomy, and show how an objec…Read more
  •  49
    Why Ethics is Hard
    Journal of Moral Philosophy 10 (4). 2013.
    I argue that one central resource for ethical thinking, seriously under-explored in contemporary anglophone philosophy, is moral phenomenology, the exploration of the texture and quality of moral experience. Perhaps a barrier that has prevented people from using this resource is that it’s hard to talk about experience. But such knowledge can be communicated, e.g. by poetry and drama. In having such experiences, either in real life or at second-hand through art, we can gain moral knowledge, rathe…Read more
  •  1099
    Though Socrates can easily look like a cosmopolitan in moral and political theory, a closer reading of the relevant texts shows that, in the most important sense of the term as we now use it, he turns out – disappointingly, perhaps – not to be. The reasons why not are instructive and important, both for readers of Plato and for political theorists; they have to do with the phenomenon that I shall call ethical blind-spots.