•  812
    Population and Having Children Now
    Journal of Practical Ethics 5 (2): 49-61. 2017.
    This paper aims to state the obvious – the commonsense, rational approach to child-producing. We have no general obligation to promote either the “general happiness” or the equalization of this and that. We have children if we want them, if their life prospects are decent – and if we can afford them, which is a considerable part of their life prospects being OK – and provided that in doing so we do not inflict injury on others. It’s extremely difficult to do this latter, but affording them, in r…Read more
  •  1481
    Resolving the Debate on Libertarianism and Abortion
    Libertarian Papers 8 267-272. 2016.
    I take issue with the view that libertarian theory does not imply any particular stand on abortion. Liberty is the absence of interference with people’s wills—interests, wishes, and desires. Only entities that have such are eligible for the direct rights of libertarian theory. Foetuses do not; and if aborted, there is then no future person whose rights are violated. Hence the “liberal” view of abortion: women (especially) may decide whether to bear the children they have conceived. Birth is a go…Read more
  •  91
    Kerrey and Calley
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 16 (2): 153-162. 2002.
    In the Vietnam war, Lieutenant Calley, claiming to be following orders, ordered the killing of several hundred women, children, and elderly people in the village of My Lai. In 1969, Lieutenant (later Senator) Kerrey led a small group of SEALs in the dead of night on a dangerous military venture. In course, a dozen or so innocent villagers were either shot in crossfire or killed intentionally because there seemed a real chance that they would inform the enemy, endangering themselves and the missi…Read more
  •  315
    Utilitarianism and formalism
    Australasian Journal of Philosophy 43 (1): 58-72. 1965.
    No abstract
  •  63
  •  1045
    The nature and value of rights
    Journal of Value Inquiry 4 (4): 243-260. 1970.
  •  46
    On the Rationality of Revolutions
    Social Philosophy Today 3 223-251. 1990.
  •  71
    Sterba's program of philosophical reconciliation
    Journal of Social Philosophy 30 (3). 1999.
  •  132
    Inequality
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 56 (2): 482-485. 1996.
    This book investigates the idea of inequality. According to the author, it does not address the question whether one should care about inequality nor which version is more plausible. Instead, its purpose is “to understand egalitarianism”, to “elucidate the notion of inequality”. The general thesis is that inequality is a “complex notion,” as shown by the fact that there are many different ways of measuring it. This is relentlessly detailed in a series of chapters that many will find rather hard …Read more
  •  13
    You and the State: A Short Introduction to Political Philosophy (edited book)
    Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2008.
    This unusual introduction to political philosophy draws on its history and main theories_classic liberal, democratic, socialist, radical_with an eye to how each sees the place of the individual in the political order
  •  236
    On a Case for Animal Rights
    The Monist 70 (1): 31-49. 1987.
    Down through the past decade and more, no philosophical writer has taken a greater interest in the issues of how we ought to act in relation to animals, nor pressed more strongly the case for according them rights, than Tom Regan, in many articles, reviews, and exchanges at scholarly conferences and in print. Now, in The Case for Animal Rights we have a substantial volume in which Regan most fully and systematically presents his case for a strong panoply of rights for animals. The argument is di…Read more
  •  48
    Critical Notice (review)
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 17 (1): 227-234. 1987.
  •  62
    Response to Smith
    Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 8 (2): 159-160. 1995.
  •  2
    Violence and war
    In Tom L. Beauchamp & Tom Regan (eds.), Matters of life and death, Temple University Press. 1980.
  •  58
    Morals by Agreement (review)
    International Philosophical Quarterly 27 (3): 336-338. 1987.
  • Addressing Some Critics
    Reason Papers 23 109-116. 1998.
  •  78
    Rethinking Democracy (review)
    International Philosophical Quarterly 29 (4): 473-477. 1989.
  •  73
  •  185
    The Relevance of Decision Theory to Ethical Theory
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 13 (5): 497-520. 2010.
    Morality for the purposes of this paper consists of sets of rules or principles intended for the general regulation of conduct for all. Intuitionist accounts of morality are rejected as making reasoned analysis of morals impossible. In many interactions, there is partial conflict and partial cooperation. From the general social point of view, the rational thing to propose is that we steer clear of conflict and promote cooperation. This is what it is rational to propose to reinforce, and to assis…Read more
  •  139
    Aesthetics, Charity, Utility, and Distributive Justice
    The Monist 56 (4): 527-551. 1972.
    As I sit down to begin this essay, the strains of “Tristan und Isolde” are still ringing in my ears; meanwhile, another dozen or so Pakistanian refugees have died for lack of sufficient food, shelter, or medical attention, probably, during the time it will have taken to compose this paragraph. The Isolde in that performance commanded, probably, a fee of four or five thousand dollars; each member of the audience paid, on the average, perhaps ten dollars to see the performance. This works out, pro…Read more
  •  161
    Terrorism and Pacifism
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 17 (2): 157-172. 2003.
    Pacifism and terrorism are at opposite ends of one spectrum: pacifists have too many friends; terrorists have too many enemies. The indiscriminacy robs both of any credibility. Both fail to distinguish between aggressors and their victims. Discussion of terrorism, however, is complicated by insufficient attention to the distinction between noncombatants and innocents. Just War theory relies heavily on that distinction, providing protections to noncombatants as such, without going into the furthe…Read more
  •  32
    J.J.C. Smart., Ethics, Persuasion and Truth (review)
    International Studies in Philosophy 21 (1): 116-118. 1989.
  •  51
    Liberal-Conservative: The Real Controversy (review)
    Journal of Value Inquiry 34 (2): 167-188. 2000.