Court Lewis

This essay examines why some introductory ethics students are averse to any sort of moral requirement. It provides a series of descriptions and techniques to help teachers recognize, diagnose, and engage such students. After discussing the nature of student aversions to moral obligations, I discuss three causes and several ways to engage each: 1) Student Relativism; 2) student fears and misunderstandings of obligations; and 3) the phenomenon of what I call fetishized liberty, which leads to the “liberty paradox”—where students actively fight for liberties, yet actively give up or fail to use the ones they currently have.

In this essay, I continue Nicholas Wolterstorff’s work of developing a rights-based theory of ethics called eirenéism, which maintains the good life only occurs when justice—as a moral state of affairs where agents enjoy the goods to which they have a right—is achieved. As a result, justice is eirenē (the Greek word for peace). In the process of developing eirenéism I explain how eirenē differs from other conceptions of peace, and I offer several interpretive arguments for how best to understand eirenéism in relation to better-known competing ethical theories, like utilitarianism, virtue ethics, duty ethics, and care ethics

Volume II of Vernon Press’s series on the Philosophy of Forgiveness offers several challenging and provocative chapters that seek to push the conversation in new directions and dimensions. Volume I, Explorations of Forgiveness: Personal, Relational, and Religious, began the task of creating a consistent multi-dimensional account of forgiveness, and Volume II’s New Dimensions of Forgiveness continues this goal by presenting a set of chapters that delve into several deep conceptual and metaphysical features of forgiveness. New Dimensions of Forgiveness creates a theoretical framework for understanding the many nuanced features of forgiveness, namely, third-party forgiveness, forgiveness as an aesthetic process, the role of resentment in warranting forgiveness, the moral status of self-forgiveness, epistemic trust, forgiveness’s influence on the moral status of persons, forgiveness in time, the status of Substance and Subject within a Hegelian framework, Jacques Derrida’s “impossible” forgiveness, and the use of imaginative “magic” to become a maximal forgiver. Readers will be challenged to question and come to terms with many oft-overlooked, yet important philosophical dimensions of forgiveness.

Sara Trovato’s Mainstreaming Pacifism: Conflict, Success, and Ethics provides a thorough and engaging argument for why pacifism is an effectual means for creating social-political justice and peace. Standing up to claims that pacifists are politically passive and accepting of injustice, Trovato shows that the peace of pacifism is compatible with the fight for justice. By showing that pacifists can consistently retain their ideals while fighting for justice, Trovato offers an alternative to effective means of violence. In her words, “violence can effectively be replaced with other effectual forms, or combinations of effectual forms.”

Dario Martinelli examines the nature of songs of social protest (SSPs) in Give Peace a Chant: Popular Music, Politics and Social Protest and provides readers with a book that is engaging, provoking, and enjoyable. Martinelli’s research is thorough, astute, and structured in a way that is both rigorous and accessible. Combining typology with several case studies, Martinelli achieves his stated goal of showing how context, song lyrics, and the music itself are organic and equally important elements that constitute SSPs.

Kobade teaches that we must recognize all individuals as links in a familial/community chain from ancestors, to the present, and to future generations. With the recognition of kobade, individuals are then called to develop kwe—knowledge of one’s self that is theoretically anchored to and generated through one’s particular ancestral and lived experience. Kwe is a deep personal knowledge that is produced by combining the past with the present through everyday actions. It creates an attitude and process of engagement with the world that responds to oppression by refusing domination of all kinds and generates new ways of engaging and living one’s grounded normativity. Grounded normativity is what stabilizes and motivates a life of meaning that participates in an embodied radical resurgence.

Court D. Lewis, author of Repentance and the Right to Forgiveness, presents a rights-based theory of ethics grounded in eirenéism, a needs-based theory of rights (inspired by Nicholas Wolterstorff) that seeks peaceful flourishing for all moral agents. This approach creates a moral relationship between victims and wrongdoers such that wrongdoers owe victims compensatory obligations. However, one further result is that wrongdoers may be owed forgiveness by victims. This leads to the “repugnant implication” that victims may be wrongdoers who do not forgive. Author Lewis addresses the “repugnant implication” by showing that victims are obligated to work toward forgiveness, if not forgiveness itself. Critic Gregory L. Bock argues that victims are not the only ones who can forgive, that the personal dimensions of forgiveness are overlooked, and that the force of the “repugnancy implication” may be questioned. Instead of rights-based eirenéism, Bock supports a virtue ethics framework. Instead of rights-based eirenéism, Bock encourages virtue ethics. Critic David Boersema raises questions about the binding nature of relationships, the dependency of flourishing upon forgiveness, and the nature of needs or rights. Boersema also questions the wisdom of a rights-based approach to forgiveness. Critic Jennifer Kling asks whether a rights-based approach is necessary to ground obligations to meet the needs of others: why not an ethics of care? If a rights-based approach is taken, perhaps a wrongdoer is obligated to not make forgiveness a life good. By disengaging this obligation, we avoid constraining a victim’s work toward forgiveness, especially when the wrongdoing is oppressive. Author Lewis responds to these objections.

William Irwin gives readers a deeply moving and insightful work into human relationships, our connection to others, the nature of reality, the pursuit of flourishing, and human nature in general. Little Siddhartha centers on three generations of family and explores how they respond to the pressures of life, their place in the world, and the fractured relationships that result. Starting with the younger Siddhartha’s mantra of “Eat, drink, and be merry,” and ending with a concerted chant of “Om,” Irwin weaves a tale that explores the spiritual recesses of human existence, calling on readers to understand, forgive, and most importantly, to listen.

Focusing on what he considers “one of the most important and enduring expressions of twentieth-century political imagination and action and one ever more important in the struggles of the present century,” Howard Caygill’s On Resistance: A Philosophy of Defiance provides a thorough and challenging look into the concept of resistance. Recognizing that ‘resistance’ itself resists conceptualization, Caygill develops a clear means to understanding its nature, its usage in a variety of writings and situations over the past century and a half, and a logic for how to sustain proactive resistance in the face of total domination or contemporary technologies.

Islam has come to be associated with hatred and terrorism, which has resulted in many thinking that Islam (and all Muslims) are fundamentally violent. Chaiwat Satha-Anand’s collection of revised essays featured in Nonviolence and Islamic Imperatives attempts to undermine such a narrative and reframe Islam in terms of peace and nonviolence. To achieve this goal, Satha-Anand argues that Islam’s core values require nonviolence and supports his argument by providing examples from the Prophet Muhammad and contemporary Muslims.

The Philosophy of Forgiveness is multi-dimensional and complex. As recent scholarly philosophical works on forgiveness illustrate, incorporating personal, relational, political, ethical, psychological, and religious dimensions into one consistent conception of “forgiveness” is difficult. As part of Vernon Press’s series on the Philosophy of Forgiveness, Explorations of Forgiveness: Personal, Relational, and Religious begins the task of creating a consistent multidimensional account of forgiveness by bringing together multiple voices from around the globe to analyze, discuss, and draw conclusions about how best to understand forgiveness. The volume’s three opening chapters examine forgiveness as a relational concept, and offer insights into the role of forgiveness in repairing, sustaining, stewarding, and healing relationships damaged by wrongdoing. Continuing with the relational theme, the next four chapters incorporate Hannah Arendt’s philosophical teachings into the discussion to offer several intriguing conclusions relating to “unforgiveable” persons and acts. The final chapters examine the nature of forgiveness from three major world religions: Buddhism, Christianity, and Confucianism.

In tribute to the philosophy of Bat-Ami Bar On, this article draws upon her Arendtian analysis of fascism to explore recent dynamics of ethnic nationalism in the US. Whereas Bar On analyzed the problem of citizen-soldiers, this study extends analysis toward the citizen culture-soldier, suggesting that recent dynamics in the US are suggestive of a Cultural Revolution that threatens the inclusive practice of citizenship required of democracy. Bar On’s work motivates philosophers to not be lulled into acceptance of anti-democratic practices of citizenship. The values of respect, equality, and equity suggest that another form of citizenship should be practically pursued.

Red Rising and Philosophy has gathered together a crew of the wisest Helldivers philosophy can offer. Could humanity's love of physical enhancements cause its extinction? Do people doom humanity by trying to all be the same? Can a person love someone, while at the same time wanting that person destroyed? Is equality always the best principle on which to organize society? What is evil, and how does it exist in contemporary life? Does one remain the same person, even after changing every physical aspect of one's body?Is it moral to sell oneself into slavery, whether it's through sex or manual labor? Is it ethical to sell one's children into slavery, on the promise that their children will live in peace and tranquility? These questions and more are what make Brown'sRed Rising trilogy such an impactful story. Brown pulls no punches, and philosophy works best in such an environment.Red Rising and Philosophy is not for the timid or the faint at heart. It's notThe Passage, since no one will die from reading it, but reading it could be a life-changing experience.

KISS is the most outrageous and yet the most enduring of rock bands, with an unparalleled, almost religious level of devotion from millions of die-hard fans. In KISS and Philosophy, professional thinkers of diverse outlooks provide much-needed insights into the motivating ideas and metaphysical foundations of the KISS take on life. According to some, the true message of KISS is self-actualization through the hard work of following your dreams. Others focus on the existential aspect of KISS thinking, drawing upon Camus and Sartre to show that KISS is preoccupied with empowering the individual to achieve self-greatness. By contrast, there is a view of KISS which identifies a "destroyer" attitude, leading some listeners to reject KISS outright, while encouraging others to become the most dedicated of followers. Yet another view sees KISS's "letting loose" as essentially Dionysian. Some chapters gain access to KISS thinking by tracing the band's cultural and historical impact, finding meaning in the way generations of fans make sense of KISS's always evolving output, the changing line-up, and the archetypal characters represented by the band's use of make-up and presentation. Other chapters look at the aesthetic quality of the band's output, especially their most controversial album, Music from "The Elder." Several chapters examine KISS's orientation to bodily pleasures, notably sex, extracting the band's philosophy of sex and love from different clues and indications. How does KISS's unashamed indulgence relate to various pleasure-governed ethical systems throughout history? Is getting the most out of pleasure key to living the good life? And does a life of gratifying one's body ultimately yield fulfillment? What are the limitations and hazards of a pleasure-oriented lifestyle? The biography of band members also provides material for reflection, looking at the nature of forgiveness through the lens of KISS's notorious feuds, and determining how to reconcile the apparently conflicting accounts of some famous squabbles. The changing line-up of the band raises questions about the meaning of "KISS" and whether KISS could last forever.

Star Trek is a series of philosophical thought experiments that challenges viewers to arrive at consistent positions about some of life's toughest questions. It isn't an exaggeration to say that, with very few exceptions, Star Trek has done more to teach audiences about the nuances of reality, science, morality, and friendship than any other show in the history of television. Casuistry is a method of analysis that makes use of case studies, either real or fictional; in order to examine what should happen in similar real‐life situations. The combination of science and fiction creates three virtues that Star Trek's creative team pushes to their boundaries in order to constantly engage viewers to be active watchers and thinkers. This chapter considers two prime examples of Star Trek's use of casuistry to make tangible contributions to important philosophical discussions.