•  5
    Rights, Reasons, and Religious Conflict
    Social Philosophy Today 21 81-93. 2005.
    The role of religious commitments in John Rawls’s version of political liberalism has drawn frequent criticism. Some of the critics have complained that it fails to respect those with deep religious commitments by excluding explicitly religious reasons from debate about fundamental issues of justice. Others criticize the exclusion of religious reasons on the ground that it is unnecessary. Political liberalism, they argue, can accommodate appeals to religious reasons. For critics of both stripes,…Read more
  •  5
    The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Psychology of Forgiveness (edited book)
    with Robert Enright
    Routledge. 2023.
    Brings into conversation research in two separate disciplines, offering readers a comprehensive guide to current forgiveness research. Its 42 chapters are divided into five sections: I. Religious Traditions; II. Historic Treatments; III. The Nature of Forgiveness; IV. Normative Issues; V. Empirical Findings.
  •  7
    I Was Wrong (review)
    Social Theory and Practice 36 (2): 355-362. 2010.
  •  31
    I Was Wrong (review)
    Social Theory and Practice 36 (2): 355-362. 2010.
    In I Was Wrong, Nick Smith explores a number of factors that contribute to our evaluation of apologies as being better or worse, adequate or inadequate. After discussing some of the strengths of Smith's account, I consider some of its limitations. In particular, I draw attention to a number of qualities that contribute to our normative assessment of apologies but that have been neglected by recent discussions of the ethics of apologizing.
  •  57
    Forgiveness without God?
    Journal of Religious Ethics 40 (3): 518-544. 2012.
    Of the many forgiveness-related questions that she takes up in her novels, the one with which Iris Murdoch wrestles most often is the question, “Is forgiveness possible without God?” The aim of this essay is to show, in the first instance, why the question Murdoch persistently raises is a question worth asking. Alongside this primary aim stands a secondary one, which is to consider how one might glean moral insights from the Christian tradition even if one does not (any longer) endorse its theol…Read more
  •  15
    Character as Moral Fiction, written by Mark Alfano
    Journal of Moral Philosophy 14 (2): 233-236. 2017.
  •  26
  •  13
    The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Pyschology of Forgiveness (edited book)
    with Robert Enright
    Routledge. 2023.
    Brings into conversation research in two separate disciplines, offering readers a comprehensive guide to current forgiveness research. Its 42 chapters are divided into five sections: I. Religious Traditions; II. Historic Treatments; III. The Nature of Forgiveness; IV. Normative Issues; V. Empirical Findings.
  •  26
    Neglected Virtues (edited book)
    Routledge. 2021.
    This book explores the nitty-gritty details of particular virtues. Most of the virtues discussed--ambition, cheerfulness, creativity, magnificence, pride, wit, wonder--have been almost wholly neglected by contemporary ethicists.
  •  91
    How do we punish others socially, and should we do so? In her 2018 Descartes Lectures for Tilburg University, Linda Radzik explores the informal methods ordinary people use to enforce moral norms, such as telling people off, boycotting businesses, and publicly shaming wrongdoers on social media. Over three lectures, Radzik develops an account of what social punishment is, why it is sometimes permissible, and when it must be withheld. She argues that the proper aim of social punishment is to put …Read more
  •  1
    Routledge Handbook of Forgiveness (edited book)
    with Robert Enright
    Routledge. 2023.
  •  15
    Attitudes and Practices
    Australasian Philosophical Review 3 (3): 288-304. 2019.
    ABSTRACT The philosophical literature on forgiveness has ignored a distinction that has a profound bearing on when we should forgive, namely, the distinction between attitudes and practices. Most of the literature focuses on the attitudes called for in the aftermath of wrongdoing. And it attempts to derive the ethics of forgiving directly from the ethical profile of those attitudes. However, attitudes underdetermine what one ought to do. I argue that assessing what we should do also requires us …Read more
  •  27
    II—Ambition, Love, And Happiness
    Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 120 (1): 21-45. 2020.
    What is the relationship between ambition and love? While discussions of happiness often mention romances, friendships, aspirations, and achievements, the relationship between these features is seldom discussed. This paper aims to fill that gap. It begins with a suggestive remark made by La Rochefoucauld and repeated by Adam Smith: ‘Love often leads on to ambition, but seldom does one return from ambition to love.’ To explain what accounts for such a pattern, I introduce a distinction between st…Read more
  • Seeking Forgiveness: Studies in Moral and Political Philosophy
    Dissertation, University of California, Riverside. 2003.
    Recent years have witnessed a renewed interest in forgiveness and apology in a number-of disciplines, including political science, sociology, psychology, theology and philosophy. Many of these discussions have been hampered by a lack of clarity regarding the concepts and practices relevant to seeking and offering forgiveness. The following studies analyze apologizing, forgiving and related practices in order to promote a better understanding of apology and forgiveness in personal and political c…Read more
  •  1
    Palestinian Political Forgiveness: Agency, Permissibility, and Prospects
    with Nigel Parsons
    Social Theory and Practice 4 (36): 661-688. 2010.
    The Israel-Palestine conflict stands at the heart of tensions in the Middle East and, more than that, at the heart of tensions between the West and the Islamic world. It is sometimes suggested that the resolution of this conflict will require forgiveness on the part of both Palestine and Israel. However, what such forgiveness would involve has not been adequately explored. Our aim is to remedy this gap in the discussion. Our consideration of Palestinian political forgiveness will address thr…Read more
  •  1
    Changing Our Mind
    In Michael Brady & Miranda Fricker (eds.), The Epistemic Life of Groups: Essays in the Epistemology of Collectives, Oxford University Press. pp. 111-129. 2016.
    A complete analysis of group knowledge would include an account of the acquisition and revision of group beliefs. This paper explores what an account of group belief revision would require. Focusing on moral communities and moral beliefs, I identify a number of ways in which such communities might revise their beliefs. And I develop an account of group belief revision that can accommodate modifications of a) propositional content, b) non-propositional content, c) understanding and d) concepti…Read more
  •  45
    Death, asymmetry and the psychological self
    Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 83 (4). 2002.
    Lucretius thought that we should be as indifferent to the time of our death as we are toward the time of our birth. This paper will critique the ways in which Thomas Nagel, Frederik Kaufman and Christopher Belshaw have appealed to a psychological notion of the self in an attempt to defend our asymmetric intuitions against Lucretius’ claim. Four objections are marshalled against the psychological–self strategy: (1) the psychological notion of the self fails to capture all of our intuitions about …Read more
  •  67
    Apology, Reparations, and the Question of Inherited Guilt
    Public Affairs Quarterly 17 (4): 319-348. 2003.
    The paper addresses the question of the appropriateness of a Congressional apology for American slavery. After offering an account of what an apology entails, I consider the claim that today's Congress fails to stand in the right relation to the guilt of American slavery to apologize for it. I argue that, while the current Congress and the constituency it represents do not bear a guilt that would permit it to apologize FOR slavery, it has inherited a guilt RELATED TO slavery for which it is appr…Read more
  •  68
    The Forgiveness We Speak: The Illocutionary Force of Forgiving
    Southern Journal of Philosophy 42 (3): 371-392. 2004.
    What are we doing when we say "I forgive you"? This paper employs Austin's notion of illocutionary force to analyze three different kinds of acts in which we might engage when saying "I forgive you." We might use it (1) to disclose an emotional condition, (2) to declare a debt cancelled, or (3) to commit ourselves to a future course of action. I suggest that the forgiving utterances we seek possess qualities of both the first and the third types of speech-acts.
  •  124
    Unapologetic Forgiveness
    American Philosophical Quarterly 41 (3). 2004.
    The paper responds to those who argue that it is morally objectionable to forgive the unapologetic. I argue that it is both possible and permissible to forgive the unapologetic. Along the way the analysis sheds light on the relationship between forgiveness and trust, condonation, self-respect, punishment, justice and apology.
  •  45
    Rights, Reasons, and Religious Conflict
    Social Philosophy Today 21 81-93. 2005.
    The role of religious commitments in John Rawls’s version of political liberalism has drawn frequent criticism. Some of the critics have complained that it fails to respect those with deep religious commitments by excluding explicitly religious reasons from debate about fundamental issues of justice. Others criticize the exclusion of religious reasons on the ground that it is unnecessary. Political liberalism, they argue, can accommodate appeals to religious reasons. For critics of both stripes,…Read more
  •  116
    Hannah Arendt and collective forgiving
    Journal of Social Philosophy 37 (4). 2006.
    The paper explores the possibility of collectives forgiving and being forgiven. The first half of the paper articulates and amends Hannah Arendt’s account of forgiveness of and by individuals. The second half raises several objections to the possibility of extending this account to forgiveness of and by collectives. In reply, I argue that collectives can have emotions, be guilty, and meet other necessary conditions for forgiving or being forgiven. However, I explain why, even though collect…Read more
  •  66
    Understanding, excusing, forgiving
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74 (1). 2007.
    This paper explores the relation between understanding and forgiving. A number of people have argued against the old adage that to understand is to forgive, for in many instances understanding leads to excusing rather than forgiving. Nonetheless, there is an interesting connection to be found between forgiving and understanding. I identify three ways in which understanding can lead to forgiveness ofunexcused wrongdoing: It can do so by changing our interpretation of the actor, by changing our in…Read more
  •  49
    Forgiveness and Interpretation
    Journal of Religious Ethics 35 (3): 429-452. 2007.
    This paper explores the relationship between our interpretations of another's actions and our readiness to forgive. It begins by articulating an account of forgiveness drawn from the New Testament. It then employs the work of Schleiermacher, Dilthey, and Gadamer to investigate ways in which our interpretations of an act or agent can promote or prevent such forgiveness. It concludes with a discussion of some ethical restrictions that may pertain to the interpretation of actions or agents as oppos…Read more