•  481
    The aim of this chapter is to show how we can account for a most peculiar feature of human life: i.e. the need to address the real possibility of failing to be ourselves.
  •  201
    Selfless Self-Love
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 9 (1): 3-25. 2006.
    This paper challenges the idea that there is a natural opposition between self-interest and morality. It does by developing an account of self-love according to which we can have self-regarding reasons that (1) differ substantially from the standard conception of self-interest, and that (2) share enough crucial features with moral reasons to count as morally respectable.
  •  178
    Beschaving zonder fatsoen
    Filosofie En Praktijk 30 (5): 34. 2009.
  •  174
    Nou zeg, waar bemoei je je mee
    Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 103 (1): 4. 2011.
    This paper investigates the possibilities of ordinary people to estabish a moral authority in a subclass of everyday scenarios in the public domain that are characterised by an underdetermination of the obtaining norms and regulations. The paper offers a strategy based on hospitality to challenge the all too common practice of ignoring one’s responsibility as a moral agent and to hide in one’s shell, hoping that others (police power!) will solve one’s problem. The paper begins with a description…Read more
  •  168
    Learning to Act
    Symposion: Theoretical and Applied Inquiries in Philosophy and Social Sciences 3 (1): 11-35. 2016.
    In this paper I argue that to understand minded agency – the capacity we typically find instantiated in instances of human behaviour that could sensibly be questioned by asking “What did you do?” – one needs to understand childhood, i.e. the trajectory of learning to act. I discuss two different types of trajectory, both of which seem to take place during childhood and both of which might be considered crucial to learning to act: a growth of bodily control (GBC) and a growth in taking responsibi…Read more
  •  112
    True to ourselves
    International Journal of Philosophical Studies 6 (1). 1998.
    The paper addresses the problem of authenticity from a point of view that diverges from the more usual social, political, or moral approaches, by focusing very explicitly on the internal psychological make-up of human agents in an attempt to identify the conditions that would enable us to use the colloquial phrase 'being true to ourselves' in a way that is philosophically tenable. First, it is argued that the most important and problematic condition is the requirement that agents can be the sour…Read more
  •  97
    Self-Knowledge and Self-Love
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 18 (2): 309-321. 2015.
    In this paper I argue for the claim that self - love is a precondition for self -knowledge. This claim is relevant to the contemporary philosophical debate on self -knowledge, but mainly because it draws attention to the role of claims of self -knowledge in the larger context of our ordinary practice of rationalizing and appropriating our actions. In this practice it is crucial for persons to open-mindedly investigate the limits of their own responsible agency, an investigation that requires a w…Read more
  •  80
    Normativity as the key to objectivity: An exploration of Robert Brandom's articulating reasons
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 45 (3). 2002.
    (2002). Normativity as the Key to Objectivity: An Exploration of Robert Brandom's Articulating Reasons. Inquiry: Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 373-391.
  •  66
    Alternatives of Oneself: Recasting some of our practical problems
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 60 (2): 381-400. 2000.
    This paper argues that there are practical problems of such a kind that neither impartial morality nor rational choice theory can provide us with comfort and guidance in our attempt to make the right choice if confronted with such a problem. It argues that both morality and rational choice theory are bound to misconstrue problems of this kind. Appreciating the limits of both morality and rational choice theory, as currently discussed in the literature (Wolf, Morton, Pettit, Hollis & Sugden), ena…Read more
  •  60
    Loving a Stranger
    In Tony Milligan, Christian Maurer & Kamilla Pacovska (eds.), Love and Its Objects: What Can We Care For?, Palgrave-macmillan. 2014.
    In this paper, however, I shall explore an alternative motivational structure for our engagements with strangers, one that highlights the importance of reasons for love. Besides being a useful and promising alternative to impartial indifference, this motivational structure is theoretically interesting in its own right because it will enable us to improve our understanding of an important distinction between two types of reasons related to love – reasons of love and reasons for love.
  •  40
    Human Action, Deliberation and Causation (edited book)
    Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1998.
    The essays collected together in this volume, many of them written by leading scholars in the field, explore the commonsensical fact that our presence as..
  •  36
    On education - by Harry Brighouse
    Philosophical Books 49 (3): 287-288. 2008.
    No Abstract
  •  34
    Moral competence in action: Introduction
    with Jo Smets
    Philosophical Explorations 3 (3). 2000.
    This Article does not have an abstract
  •  34
    I will survive
    Wijsgerig Perspectief 49 (3): 22-29. 2009.
    ‘Kijk. Mijn kasteel heeft het overleefd!’ roept mijn zoon enthousiast. We zijn hier gisteren ook aan het strand geweest en er is inderdaad nog iets te herkennen van het bouwwerk dat hij hier toen gemaakt heeft. Het hoge water heeft nog niet alle sporen uitgeveegd, maar om nu te zeggen dat de vage contouren in het zand de uitroep rechtvaardigen dat ‘het kasteel’ het ‘overleefd’ heeft… Dat rekt óf het begrip kasteel óf het begrip overleven toch een heel eind verder op dan we normaal gesproken acce…Read more
  •  33
    Editorial
    Philosophical Explorations 6 (3). 2003.
    This Article does not have an abstract
  •  32
    On exploring normative constraints in new situations
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 44 (1). 2001.
    Philip Pettit's ethocentric account of rule-following is elaborated and defended in this paper as basically a story about the capacity to reason organized around largely implicit assumptions about what is and what is not normal. It is argued that this account can be insightfully used to elucidate the practical reasoning of agents confronted with the normative indeterminacy that seems to be characteristic of radically new situations. It is shown that practical reasoning consists to a large extent…Read more
  •  31
    The Unity of the Mind
    Philosophical Books 36 (3): 192-194. 1995.
  •  31
    Making X Happen: Prolepsis and the Problem of Mental Determination
    In J. A. M. Bransen & S. E. Cuypers (eds.), Human Action, Deliberation and Causation, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 131--153. 1998.
  •  31
    From Daily Life to Philosophy
    Metaphilosophy 35 (4): 517-535. 2004.
    It is argued that the little everyday things of life often provide excellent entries into the intellectual problems of academic philosophy. This is illustrated with an analysis of four small stories taken from daily life in which people are in agony because they do not know what to do. It is argued that the crucial question in these stories is a philosophical question; not a closed request for empirical or formal information, but an open question about how best to conceive of human experience.
  •  30
    Contemporary Anthropocentrism, Salomon Maimon, and the Problem of Experience
    Proceedings of the Eighth International Kant Congress 2 145-153. 1995.
  •  21
    Anthropocentrism in favourable circumstances
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 37 (3). 1994.
    No abstract
  •  19
    Wat maakt blind? Liefde? Of Wetenschap?
    with Giel Hutschemaekers
    Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 107 (1): 95-116. 2015.
    Blindness in therapy? Love? Or science? In this paper we dispute what seems an obvious truism these days: that increasing the influence of scientific research on psychotherapy is a good thing. We begin with an exploration of two distinct capacities that contribute in significant ways to human flourishing: knowledge and love. We then argue that modern society rather onesidedly capitalizes on the growth of scientific knowledge. This has an important drawback because the dominant model of growth pr…Read more
  •  16
    Actorschap en zelfstandigheid
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 60 (4). 1998.
    This is a review article of the debate about the role of the hierarchical conceptionof personal autonomy in an analysis of agency. Three well-known problems are described:the infinite regress, the 'ab initio' problem, and the 'incompleteness' problem. It is suggested that solving the last problem would resolve the former two. Three strategies to solve the last problem are discussed and found unsatisfactory: (1) stressing the independent role of value judgements; (2) stressing the supreme value o…Read more
  •  14
    Anticipating reasons of one's own
    In Maureen Sie, Marc Slors & Bert van den Brink (eds.), Reasons of One's Own, Ashgate. pp. 87--105. 2004.