-
6Metaethical Reflections on Robert Audi's Moral IntuitionismIn Mark Timmons, John Greco & Alfred R. Mele (eds.), Rationality and the Good: Critical Essays on the Ethics and Epistemology of Robert Audi, Oxford University Press. pp. 40-53. 2007.This chapter discusses Audi's version of metaethical intuitionism, arguing that it faces significant objections. Without a basis for the theory's claims of self-evidence, it argues, moral intuitions can be charged with arbitrariness. Moreover, familiar problems concerning “queerness” and supervenience remain. This chapter proposes that moral intuitions are grounded in conative experiences of “felt obligation”. It then argues that his version of intuitionism preserves the virtues of Audi's approa…Read more
-
7The Free Will DefenseIn Ken Perszyk (ed.), Molinism: The Contemporary Debate, Oxford University Press. pp. 239-261. 2011.This chapter is a critique of views that seek to resolve the problem of moral evil by holding that such evil is owing to exercises of human freedom that escape God's control as creator. It is argued that the three most common treatments of this kind are all unsatisfactory in that none of them provides sufficiently for God's omniscience and sovereignty. Boethian views preserve an omniscient God, but deprive him of any control over what exercises of creaturely freedom will occur. Openness theories…Read more
-
Pointless Suffering? How to Make the Problem of Evil Sufficiently SeriousIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), Oxford Studies in the Philosophy of Religion, vol. 2, Oxford University Press. 2009.
-
Pointless Suffering? How to Make the Problem of Evil Sufficiently SeriousIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), Oxford Studies in the Philosophy of Religion, vol. 2, Oxford University Press. 2009.
-
10Divine Conservation and the Persistence of the WorldIn Thomas V. Morris (ed.), Divine and Human Action: Essays in the Metaphysics of Theism, Cornell University Press. pp. 13-49. 2019.
-
78``Divine Conservation and the Persistence of the World"In Thomas V. Morris (ed.), Divine and Human Action: Essays in the Metaphysics of Theism, Cornell University Press. pp. 13-49. 2019.
-
107Trying, Paralysis, and VolitionReview of Metaphysics 28 (3): 423-442. 1975.The implications of this example for the philosophy of action are, of course, important: at the very least, it casts serious doubt on the often heard view that the notion of volition is a mere invention of philosophers, having no use outside philosophical contexts. It is, then, worthy of study. But many recent philosophers have paid practically no attention to actual cases of paralysis. Instead, they have preferred to deal a priori with the possibility of a paralytic trying to perform a bodily m…Read more
-
60Action IndividuationIn Kirk Ludwig & Ernest Lepore (eds.), A Companion to Donald Davidson, Wiley-blackwell. 2013.A description of the motivation and content of Davidson's theory of the individuation of action is given, followed by a brief account of the chief alternative to it. Objections to any ontology of events are considered, and then objections to the Davidson's theory in particular. A compromise position that seeks to deal with these objections is then presented and defended.
-
79Creation and ConservationIn Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper & Philip L. Quinn (eds.), A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.This chapter contains sections titled: Initial Reservations Coming to Be and Being Self‐Sustenance Conservation Principles and Secondary Causes Divine Intervention Works cited.
-
229The occasionalist proselytizer: A modified catechismPhilosophical Perspectives 5 587-615. 1991.
-
197Intention and Motivational StrengthJournal of Philosophical Research 20 571-583. 1995.One of the principal preoccupations of action theory is with the role of intention in the production of action. It should be expected that this role would be important, since an item of behavior appears to count as action just when there is some respect in which it is intended by the agent. This being the case, an account of the function of intention should provide insight into how human action might differ from other sorts of events, what the foundations of human autonomy may be, etc. But the c…Read more
-
12Free will and the mythology of causationIn Andrei Buckareff & Yujin Nagasawa (eds.), Alternative Concepts of God: Essays on the Metaphysics of the Divine, Oxford University Press. pp. 234-252. 2016.Libertarian accounts of free will face the objection that they are liable to leave our decisions and actions with no explanation whatever for their existence. To counter this objection some libertarians invoke a concept of agent causation, whereby agents are held to confer existence on their own decisions and actions. This chapter argues that, construed as operations of existence conferral, neither agent nor event causation can be given a coherent account. Rather, God’s action as primary cause i…Read more
-
137Practical RationalityJournal of Philosophical Research 15 57-77. 1990.Recent views on practical rationality harmonize well with a fundamentally Kantian conception of the foundations of morality. Rationality in practical thinking is not a matter of valid reasoning, or of foIlowing maximization principles. From an agent-centered perspective, it consists in observing certain standards of consistency. In themselves, these standards lack the force of duties, hence there can be no irresolvable conflict between rationality and morality. Furthermore, the Kantian test of u…Read more
-
75God, Sin, and Rogers on AnselmFaith and Philosophy 26 (4): 420-431. 2009.Based on views she draws from Anselm, Katherin Rogers mounts an extended attack on my account of God’s relationship to human sin. Here I argue first that if Anselm’s view of the relationship in question is different from my own, then Rogers fails to locate any reason for thinking his account is correct. I argue further that Rogers fails to demonstrate her claim that my account of God’s relation to sin makes him a deceiver, that her criticisms of my theodicy of sin are misguided, and that she is…Read more
-
127Natural Agency: An Essay on the Causal Theory of Action, by John Bishop (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52 (4): 1008-1010. 1992.
-
Pointless Suffering? How to Make the Problem of Evil Sufficiently SeriousOxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 2 (1). 2010.
-
82Springs of Action: Understanding Intentional BehaviorPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 54 (4): 979-982. 1994.
-
73Modality and SovereigntyPhilosophia Christi 12 (2): 289-296. 2010.Two important aspects of O’Connor’s Theism and Ultimate Explanation are explored. The first is whether God’s existence should be considered ontologically necessary. I suggest that although existence is essential to God, it is not a matter of ontological necessity. The second is whether prior to creating God deliberates about what universe or universes to create. I argue that he does not, that to say he does is to mistake creation for a kind of manufacturing. Implications of these claims regardin…Read more
-
1Edwards on Free Will.”In Paul Helm & Oliver Crisp (eds.), Jonathan Edwards: Philosophical Theologian, Burlington, Vt: Ashgate Publishing Co.. pp. 27--43. 2003.
-
217The Works of Agency: On Human Action, Will and FreedomCornell University Press. 1998.In these essays, Hugh J. McCann develops a unified perspective on human action. Written over a period of twenty-five years, the essays provide a comprehensive survey of the major topics in contemporary action theory. In four sections, the book addresses the ontology of action ; the foundations of action ; intention, will, and freedom; and practical rationality. McCann works out a compromise between competing perspectives on the individuation of action ; explores the foundations of action and def…Read more
-
219The Works of Agency: On Human Action, Will, and FreedomPhilosophical Review 109 (4): 632. 2000.This book comprises eleven essays in the philosophy of action, six of which were previously published. The book has a fairly extensive index. The essays are arranged in four groups. The first group contains two essays on the individuation of action. The second contains four essays that argue for the view that what makes an event an action is, not how it is caused, but that it is, or begins with, a volition, “an intrinsically actional” mental event. The third contains three essays that defend the…Read more
-
142Individuating Actions: The Fine—Grained ApproachCanadian Journal of Philosophy 13 (4). 1983.When Booth moved his finger, thereby firing a gun, thereby killing Lincoln, did he perform three discrete actions, or were there relations of identity or inclusion among them? Most treatments of this problem have tended to assume there is but one sort of entity properly to be called an action, and hence that one answer to this question must be established to the exclusion of all others. And the favored answer has been that Booth's actions are not discrete, or indeed even overlapping, but identic…Read more
College Station, Texas, United States of America
Areas of Interest
| Metaphysics |
| Philosophy of Action |
| Philosophy of Religion |