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47The Predicament That Wasn’t: A Reply to BenatarPhilosophical Papers 49 (3): 457-484. 2020.In his recent book The Human Predicament, David Benatar describes the human condition as a tragic predicament, and the upshot is that we ought to refrain from having children and adopt an attitude...
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15The Arc of Love: How Our Romantic Lives Change Over Time, Aaron Ben-Ze’ev, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2019Philosophia 48 (2): 867-872. 2020.
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69Living wellThink 13 (38): 13-23. 2014.What is living well? We describe two contrasting lives and ask whether one is better lived than the other. Many philosophers, among them Susan Wolf, Richard Kraut and Stephen Darwall would say so. We criticize their position, which views certain activities as intrinsically more worthy than others. Instead, we conclude that persons are living well if they act morally and find long-term satisfaction, regardless of the pursuits they choose
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43Happiness and Goodness: Philosophical Refl ections on Living WellCambridge University Press. 2015.How should we evaluate the success of each person's life? Countering the prevalent philosophical perspective on the subject, Steven M. Cahn and Christine Vitrano defend the view that our well-being is dependent not on particular activities, accomplishments, or awards but on finding personal satisfaction while treating others with due concern. The authors suggest that moral behavior is not necessary for happiness and does not ensure it. Yet they also argue that morality and happiness are needed f…Read more
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50Yuck! The Nature and Moral Significance of Disgust (review)Philosophical Psychology 26 (5): 769-772. 2013.No abstract
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4Happiness and moralityIn Steven M. Cahn (ed.), Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology, Oxford University Press Usa. 2000.
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48Love and ResilienceEthical Perspectives 20 (4): 591-604. 2013.Recent studies indicate that many people demonstrate resilience to the loss of a spouse, and are able to return fairly quickly to their normal levels of subjective well-being. The question I address here is whether these empirical findings support scepticism about the importance of our loved ones. I argue that we have reason to doubt the correlation posited by the sceptic between the importance of a person’s spouse and his or her reaction to spousal loss. Extreme devastation may not be a sign of…Read more
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58What Does the Shape of a Life Tell Us About Its ValueJournal of Value Inquiry 51 (3): 563-575. 2017.
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219Meaningful lives?Ratio 26 (1): 79-90. 2012.Contemporary ethical theorists have sought criteria to identify meaningful lives. A central issue that divides accounts is whether the concept of meaningfulness rests on objective values. My own view is that each side in the controversy is partially right and partially wrong. I believe objective values are needed for the concept of a meaningful life but that no successful account of such values has yet been offered. Lacking such an account, the concept of a meaningful life should be replaced by …Read more
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624The Impact of Personal Identity on Advance DirectivesJournal of Value Inquiry 45 (2): 147-158. 2011.
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200Happiness: classic and contemporary readings in philosophy (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2007.This book will be the first collection of classic and contemporary readings devoted to the subject of happiness. Part I will include classic readings from Plato to Sartre, thus providing a brief tour of the most important theories of ethics and emphasizing their approaches to happiness. Part II will be devoted to the work of contemporary theorists who have sought to grasp the concept of happiness from a variety of perspectives.
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153Choosing the Experience MachinePhilosophy in the Contemporary World 20 (1): 52-58. 2013.In the decades since Robert Nozick posed his now famous thought experiment involving the experience machine, philosophers have taken his treatment as conclusive. A review of the literature finds almost no one who has argued that people would choose the experience machine. To find such unanunity among philosophers is unexpected. But the situation is especially surprising because Nozick's conclusion appears mistaken. In support of this view, we offer three different sorts of reasons why persons wo…Read more