University of Connecticut
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 1982
APA Eastern Division
New Haven, CT, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics
Meta-Ethics
Normative Ethics
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Mind
  •  63
    Teaching Philosophy, Being a Philosopher
    Teaching Philosophy 16 (2): 99-104. 1993.
  •  3
    Moral Moments: Ignorance Is Bliss
    Philosophy Now 45 43-43. 2004.
  •  1
    Moral Moments: Stop Think
    Philosophy Now 55 38-38. 2006.
  • Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 51 40-40. 2005.
  •  3
    The Spread is a collection of very short essays first written for his blogs by philosopher Joel Marks. They perform two main functions: to isolate some points made in his earlier writings for special or clarificatory or corrective treatment, and to draw out further implications and applications from two theories he has been promoting: desirism and its even more extreme form, analetheism (or letheism). Both theories are premised on moral nihilism: the denial of objective value. Desirism offers an…Read more
  •  13
    A Philosophical Perspective on Folk Moral Objectivism
    Philosophical Quarterly 73 (3): 864-866. 2022.
    While ostensibly focused on a particular meta-ethical issue, namely, the objectivity of morality, Thomas Pölzler's new monograph, A Philosophical Perspective on.
  •  2
    Bad faith: a philosophical memoir
    [CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform]. 2013.
    An autobiographical account of a philosopher's fall from innocence, Bad Faith relates the author's discovery of the God-like nature of morality and his realization that a self-styled atheist such as himself could therefore no longer believe in it. The book describes in detail what the author's life was like both immediately before and immediately after this "anti-epiphany." Proceeding from secular morality to secular amorality, the transformation was every bit as traumatic for this earnest moral…Read more
  •  246
    Current planetary defense policy prioritizes a probability assessment of risk of Earth impact by an asteroid or a comet in the planning of detection and mitigation strategies and in setting the levels of urgency and budgeting to operationalize them. The result has been a focus on asteroids of Tunguska size, which could destroy a city or a region, since this is the most likely sort of object we would need to defend against. However a complete risk assessment would consider not only the probabilit…Read more
  •  40
    Reason and Ethics defends the theoretical claim that all values are subjective and the practical claim that human affairs can be conducted fruitfully in full awareness of this. Joel Marks goes beyond his previous work defending moral skepticism to question the existence of all objective values. This leads him to suggest a novel answer to the Companions in Guilt argument that the denial of morality would mean relinquishing rationality as well. Marks disarms the argument by conceding the irreality…Read more
  •  3
    Moral Moments: On the Other Hand
    Philosophy Now 51 40-40. 2005.
  •  3
    Moral Moments: Testing Your Moral Metal
    Philosophy Now 27 51-51. 2000.
  •  2
    Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 69 51-51. 2008.
  •  2
    Moral Moments: Right by Definition
    Philosophy Now 32 45-45. 2001.
  •  3
    Moral Moments: Right by Definition
    Philosophy Now 31 45-45. 2001.
  •  11
    The Geography of Philosophy
    Philosophy Now. Amagazine of Ideas 47. 2004.
    The typical philosophy curriculum in my country completely ignores non-Western traditions of thought. Apparently the latter are viewed as primarily religious in nature and so not properly philosophical, when in fact the very distinction has little significance in those other traditions. Or perhaps they are simply not considered at all; after all, if the teachers themselves were never exposed to such material in graduate school, they are not likely to incorporate it into the syllabi they devise f…Read more
  •  12
    Letters to the Editor
    Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 74 (2): 99-107. 2000.
  •  217
    Taking as its starting point that morality does not exist (moral error theory), this chapter tries to persuade the reader to eradicate it from her psyche as well (moral abolitionism). It is argued further that the most effective way to rid oneself (and society) of moralist attitudes would be to eliminate moralist vocabulary and manners of speaking and, indeed, to the greatest degree practicable, all normative vocabularies and manners of speaking. This is because moralism lies deep and pervasivel…Read more
  •  10
    Time Travel Made Easy
    Philosophy Now 28 (76): 33. 2009.
  • Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 70 39-39. 2008.
  • Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 60 50-50. 2007.
  •  1
    Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 77 39-39. 2010.
  • Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 54 50-50. 2006.
  •  2
    Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 52 51-51. 2005.
  • Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 49 36-36. 2005.
  • Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 55 38-38. 2006.
  • Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 48 38-38. 2004.
  • Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 45 43-43. 2004.
  •  1
    Moral Moments
    Philosophy Now 41 49-49. 2003.