•  62
    A rhetoric of refuge and escape is a consistent feature of the world’s great garden traditions. The connections between a desire for escape, need for refuge and disquieting sense that life is no longer what it ought to be gestures to a complex conception of garden appreciation. I explore these connections using Christian, Islamic, and Chinese garden traditions. In them one finds a conception of certain gardens as places of moral refuge from the corruption and failings of the mainstream world.
  •  75
    Feyerabend on human life, abstraction, and the “conquest of abundance”
    Epistemology and Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
    I offer a new interpretation of Feyerabend’s ‘conquest of abundance’ narrative. I consider and reject both the ontological reading as implausible and the ‘historical’ reading as uncompelling My own proposal is that the ‘conquest of abundance’ be understood in terms of an impoverishment of the richness of human experience. For Feyerabend, such abundance is ‘conquered’ when individuals internalize distorting epistemic prejudices including those integral to the theoretical conceptions associated wi…Read more
  •  50
    Feyerabend on pluralism, contingency, and humility
    Filozoficzne Aspekty Genezy. forthcoming.
    Throughout the writings of Paul Feyerabend, there are constant references to the historical contingency of the scientific enterprise, often accompanied by philosophical claims about the significance of that contingency. This paper presents those contingentist claims, situates them in the context of more recent work on the contingency of science, and offers an interpretation of their significance. I suggest that Feyerabend’s sense of contingency was connected to his defences of pluralism, and als…Read more
  •  1
    Book Reviews (review)
    Environmental Values 21 (3): 386-388. 2012.
  •  12
    ‘The co-production of meaning’ is a popular, widely-used, but under-defined concept. To better understand the co-production of meaning, we shall attempt to develop an account of co-production through phenomenological psychopathology. Through Hans Georg Gadamer’s remarks on ‘the hermeneutic problem of psychiatry’, we distinguish kinds of contingent and intrinsic obstacles to 'co-production'. In calling attention to these obstacles, we problematise the concept of ‘co-production’ in public mental h…Read more
  • The Routledge Handbook on Epistemic Injustice (edited book)
    Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 2016.
  •  124
    Metaphilosophical Myopia and the Ideal of Expansionist Pluralism
    Journal of Philosophy of Education 57 (4-5): 1025-1040. 2024.
    This paper argues for the diversification of university-level philosophy curricula. I defend the ideal of expansionist pluralism and connect it to metaphilosophical myopia – problematically limited or constrained visions of the range of forms taken by philosophy. Expansively pluralist curricula work to challenge metaphilosophical myopia and one of its costs, namely, a specific kind of hermeneutical injustice, perpetrated against the communities and traditions shaped by the occluded forms of phil…Read more
  •  10
    Višedimenzionalizam, otpor i demografski problem
    European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 19 (1): 4-30. 2023.
    Linda Martín Alcoff i drugi naglasili su da filozofija kao disciplina pati od "demografskog problema". Upornost ovog problema djelomično je posljedica različitih oblika otpora nastojanjima da se riješi demografski problem. Takav otpor je složen i pojavljuje se u mnogim oblicima te se na njega može odgovoriti na različite načine. U ovom radu tvrdim da bi naši pokušaji objašnjenja i razumijevanja fenomena otpora trebali koristiti pluralističko objašnjenje koje, prema Quassimu Cassamu, nazivam više…Read more
  •  23
    Epistemic Injustice Should Matter to Psychiatrists
    with Lucienne Spencer and Eleanor Harris
    Philosophy of Medicine 4 (1). 2023.
  •  96
    A draft of my (positive) review of Adam Kirsch's book 'The Revolt Against Humanity: Imagining a Future Without Us'.
  •  8
    From Vices to Corruption to Misanthropy
    TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology 7 (2). 2022.
    The main part of the paper describes the deep connections between the concepts of vices, corruption, and misanthropy. I argue that the full significance of the concept of human vices or failings is only fully appreciated when it is connected to an account of the ways that our social practices and institutions are corrupting, in the sense of facilitating or encouraging the development and exercise of those failings. Moreover, reflection on failings and corruption can lead us to misanthropy, defin…Read more
  •  292
    This paper offers an overview of the philosophical work on epistemic injustices as it relates to psychiatry. After describing the development of epistemic injustice studies, we survey the existing literature on its application to psychiatry. We describe how the concept of epistemic injustice has been taken up into a range of debates in philosophy of psychiatry, including the nature of psychiatric conditions, psychiatric practices and research, and ameliorative projects. The final section of the …Read more
  •  101
    Should Buddhists be Social Activists?
    Www.Daily-Philosophy.Com. 2022.
    This is a three-part popular philosophy article for the Daily Philosophy website. I challenge the 'engaged Buddhist' conviction that social and political activism is consistent with Buddhist teachings. I focus on the Buddha's teachings on compassion and the 'overcoming of suffering' (part one), the kinds of attitudes and actions he endorsed and condemned (part two), and the essentially quietist character of his moral vision (part three). A theme of the discussion is the neglect or dismissal, b…Read more
  •  453
    Is Intellectual Humility Compatible with Political Conviction?
    Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy. forthcoming.
    New research suggests that a healthy democracy requires intellectual humility. When citizens are intellectually humble, they are less polarized, more tolerant and respectful of others, and display greater empathy for political opponents. But a flourishing democracy also requires people with political convictions. If the electorate were apathetic, they would not participate in democratic decision-making. Do these two democratic ideals conflict? The standard view in philosophy and psychology is th…Read more
  •  153
    Everyday Aesthetics, Happiness, and Depression
    In Helena Fox, Kathleen Galvin, Michael Musalek, Martin Poltrum & Yuriko Saito (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Mental Health and Contemporary Western Aesthetics, Oxford University Press. forthcoming.
    This chapter will introduce everyday aesthetics and conceptions of happiness, explore their interconnections, and indicate some ways they might relate to depression. I introduce the main claims and concerns of everyday aesthetics and illustrate these with examples from the Indian, Chinese, and Japanese philosophical traditions. I then consider two popular accounts of happiness – ‘hedonic’ and ‘life-satisfaction’ theories – and offer an alternative phenomenological account of happiness. Aestheti…Read more
  •  195
    Feyerabend, science, and scientism
    In Karim Bschir & Jamie Shaw (eds.), Interpreting Feyerabend: Critical Essays, Cambridge University Press. 2021.
    I argue that a main theme Feyerabend's philosophical work was a critique of scientism. This devolves into two sub-critiques - a critique of conceptions of science's self-understanding and a critique of scientific cultures. The former is more compelling and more aligned with mainstream themes in Anglophone analytical philosophy of science, the latter is less developed but more resonant with themes in feminist, postcolonial and 'continental' forms of philosophy of science.
  •  9
    An essay on the Classical Chinese philosophical 'School of the Tillers', an agrarian philosophy inspired by the legend of Shénnóng, the Divine Farmer. Themes include the celebration of pastoral life, the tensions between innocence and moral toil, and the influence of the School of the Tillers on the later Daoist tradition.
  •  62
    Loneliness is Many Things
    Thinkful.Ie. 2022.
    There are many different varieties of loneliness, with different causes, experiences, and impacts on our lives. We should distinguish them and appreciate that 'tackling' loneliness will mean different things for different kinds of loneliness.
  •  11
    The Ambivalence of Cynicism
    Open for Debate. 2022.
    We should not abandon cynicism tout court nor think that the cynic is doomed to complacency or despair. Cynicism is a volatile quality that can become poisonous or explosive if handled too carelessly—but it can also be an effective sobering agent able to enliven our critical sensibilities and supply the energy we need to live well in a bad world.
  •  180
    From Vices to Corruption to Misanthropy
    Theologica 7 (2). 2023.
    The main part of the paper describes the deep connections between the concepts of vices, corruption, and misanthropy. I argue that the full significance of the concept of human vices or failings is only fully appreciated when it is connected to an account of the ways that our social practices and institutions are corrupting, in the sense of facilitating or encouraging the development and exercise of those failings. Moreover, reflection on failings and corruption can lead us to misanthropy, defin…Read more
  •  291
    Varieties of Philosophical Humanism and Conceptions of Science
    In A forthcoming volume on science and humanism, Chicago University Press. forthcoming.
    This chapter describes some of the varieties of philosophical humanism and different conceptions of, and attitudes towards, the natural sciences. I focus on three kinds of humanism evident in 20th century European philosophy – humanism as essentialism, humanism as rational subjectivity, and existential humanism. Some are strongly allied to the sciences, others are antipathetic to them, while others offer subtler positions. By emphasising this diversity, I want to oppose claims about the inevitab…Read more
  •  168
    Institutional Cynicism and Civic Virtue
    In Quassim Cassam & Hana Samaržija (eds.), The Epistemology of Democracy, Routledge. pp. 152-169. 2023.
    Scholars are divided on the relationship between cynicism and political life. In this chapter, I describe and endorse what I call 'institutional cynicism' and suggest it can feature within kinds of virtuous civic stances in democratic societies. I accept that some forms of cynicism can be as destructive and as anti-democratic as critics insist. Institutional cynicism, of the sort I describe, can actually make us better citizens. It turns our attention towards sub-optimal aspects of the political…Read more
  •  118
    Political Conviction, Intellectual Humility, and Quietism
    Journal of Positive Psychology. forthcoming.
    In his overview of recent work on intellectual humility, Nathan Ballantyne (2021) highlights some of the potential ‘dark sides’ of intellectual humility (IH) and calls for a critical study of the ‘value-theory’ of IH. In this article, we sketch out three ways that IH may threaten political conviction. We end our response by arguing that some forms of IH include different kinds of quietism about political convictions, which do not necessarily equate with a lack of conviction.
  •  200
    Corrupted Temporalities, ‘Cultures of Speed’, and the Possibility of Collegiality
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 55 (3): 330-342. 2023.
    This paper describes a neglected aspect of the critique of academic ‘cultures of speed’ offered by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber in The Slow Professor. I argue internalisation of the values and imperatives of cultures of speed can encourage the erosion of a range of academic virtues while also facilitating the development of a range of academic vices. I focus on the ways that an internalised ‘psychology of speed’ erodes our capacity to exercise the virtues of intellectual beneficence – excellen…Read more
  •  222
    Gardens and the Good Life in Confucianism and Daoism
    In Laura D’Olimpio, Panos Paris & Aidan Thompson (eds.), Educating Character Through the Arts, Routledge. pp. 125-139. 2022.
    Creating and caring for a garden is a long-term project whose success requires commitment and devotion and love and proper performance of a range of activities that involve virtues and sensibilities like attentiveness, carefulness, humility, imaginativeness, and sensitivity to the natures and needs of plants and animals. In this chapter, I elaborate this conception of gardens and explore its relationship to artistic activities, like composing poetry or performing music. My focus are Confucianism…Read more
  •  81
    Institutional Opacity, Epistemic Vulnerability, and Institutional Testimonial Justice
    with Carel Havi
    International Journal of Philosophical Studies 29 (4): 473-496. 2021.
    ABSTRACT This paper offers an account of institutional testimonial justice and describes one way that it breaks down, which we call institutional opacity. An institution is opaque when it becomes resistant to epistemic evaluation and understanding by its agents and users. When one cannot understand the inner workings of an institution, it becomes difficult to know how to comport oneself testimonially. We offer an account of an institutional ethos to explain what it means for an institution to be…Read more
  •  8
    Reloading the Canon
    The Philosophers' Magazine 93 57-63. 2021.