•  11
    The Routledge Handbook of Criminal Justice Ethics (edited book)
    with Jonathan Jackson
    Routledge. 2016.
    The enormous financial cost of criminal justice has motivated increased scrutiny and recognition of the need for constructive change, but what of the ethical costs of current practices and policies? Moreover, if we seriously value the principles of liberal democracy then there is no question that the ethics of criminal justice are everybody’s business, concerns for the entire society. _The Routledge Handbook of Criminal Justice Ethics_ brings together international scholars to explore the most s…Read more
  •  19
    Judaic Sources and Western Thought: Jerusalem's Enduring Presence (edited book)
    Oxford University Press. 2011.
    The essays in this volume bring into relief the distinctly Judaic origins of many of them and explicate how they remain valuable resources for moral and ...
  •  5
    Maimonides
    In J. Feiser & B. Dowden (eds.), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, . 2012.
  •  83
    The Epistemology of Moral Tradition
    Review of Metaphysics 64 (1): 55-74. 2010.
    An explication of the Maimonidean view that tradition--even when anchored in revelation---can be a mode of access to rationally justified moral requirements. The discussion focuses on the mutually reinforcing roles of enlarging understanding on the one hand, and engagement in practice on the other. Deepened understanding of the 'reasons for the commandments' can motivate commitment to practice, which in turn can aid in deepening understanding.
  •  40
    Why Is Virtue Naturally Pleasing?
    Review of Metaphysics 49 (1): 21-48. 1995.
    A great deal is compressed into this passage; pleasure is associated in important ways with our nature; it has a crucial role in moral education; we can be pleased and displeased correctly or incorrectly, and this has a place in making character; and pleasure is something that matters all through a human life. Some of the themes are introduced and discussed at earlier places in the Ethics; some receive fuller treatment in book 10. The idea that some things are naturally pleasant and that the vir…Read more
  •  24
    Punishing Society: Incarceration, Coercive Corruption, and the Liberal Polity
    Criminal Justice Ethics 33 (3): 200-219. 2014.
    Criminal justice in the United States is beset with several serious problems and challenges. While the issues are not entirely unique to the U.S. and can be found to some extent in other liberal de...
  •  1
    Note from the Editor
    Criminal Justice Ethics 40 (2): 85-85. 2021.
    As mentioned in the April 2021 issue of the journal, we are including some articles on Artificial Intelligence and ethics, and computer technology and ethics more broadly. In February 2020, the Ins...
  •  6
    Note from the Editor
    Criminal Justice Ethics 40 (1): 1-1. 2021.
    In this issue of the journal and in the August 2021 issue we are including some articles concerning Artificial Intelligence and ethics, and computer technology and ethics more broadly. Developments...
  • Editorial
    Criminal Justice Ethics 32 (3): 185-186. 2013.
    Criminal Justice Ethics publishes articles by authors in different disciplines and areas of specialization. The journal reaches across several disciplinary boundaries and its contents are evidence...
  •  20
    Sabina Lovibond, Ethical Formation
    Philosophical Inquiry 24 (3-4): 146-147. 2002.
  •  23
    Some Remarks on Criminology and Moral Philosophy
    Criminal Justice Ethics 38 (3): 198-220. 2019.
    Recent developments in philosophy and in criminology indicate that there are significant respects in which the two disciplines can be mutually informing. Many philosophers are increasingly interested in exploring empirical aspects of philosophical claims, and criminologists are finding their way past the alleged fact/value distinction and are rediscovering the moral significance of facts, especially regarding punishment and desistance. In some recent criminological studies there are implicit lin…Read more
  •  3
    Ethics a–Z
    Edinburgh University Press. 2005.
    Jacobs introduces the issues, language, concepts and positions central to ethical theorizing. Entries range from antiquity to the present and basic to advance. Cross-referencing allows readers to explore topics in depth. Items explain complex issues of normative ethics, metaethics and moral psychology in non-technical language.
  •  7
    Note From the Editor
    Criminal Justice Ethics 32 (1): 19-19. 2013.
    Gordon Lloyd's article takes up issues of constitutional interpretation by the Supreme Court, examining the arguments in some key, early Court decisions. The discussion does not address criminal ju...
  •  32
    Aristotle and Maimonides
    American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 76 (1): 145-163. 2002.
    Maimonides uses Aristotelian philosophical idiom to articulate his moral philosophy, but there are fundamental differences between his and Aristotle’s conceptions of moral psychology and the nature of the moral agent. The Maimonidean conception of volition and its role in repentance and ethical self-correction are quite un-Aristotelian. The relation between this capacity to alter one’s character and the accessibility of ethical requirements given in the Law is explored. This relation helps expla…Read more
  •  19
    The Liberal Polity, Criminal Sanction, and Civil Society
    Criminal Justice Ethics 32 (3): 1-16. 2013.
    The article explores an intersection of moral psychology and political principles regarding criminal sanction. A liberal state cannot require that persons acquire certain states of character or lead certain specific kinds of lives; it cannot require virtue. Moreover, it would be wrong for the state to punish offenders in ways that damage their capacities for agency, and in ways that encourage vice. In the U.S. the terms and conditions of punishment often have deleterious effects on agential capa…Read more
  •  22
    The Idea of a Personal History
    International Philosophical Quarterly 24 (2): 179-187. 1984.
  •  31
    Virtuous Liaisons (review)
    Social Theory and Practice 33 (2): 345-352. 2007.
  •  5
    Virtuous Liaisons (review)
    Social Theory and Practice 33 (2): 345-352. 2007.
  •  11
    Theism, Blame And Perfection
    Heythrop Journal 41 (2): 141-153. 2000.
    Blame and also punishment do not reach many agents in the sense that many agents are not motivated to ethically self‐correct, and in fact, may be worsened by these practices. The main reasons agents may not be reached by them are that the agent's second nature may make inaccessible to him a sound appreciation of ethical considerations, and the fixity of mature character may make ethical self‐correction practically impossible. Still, when they are ethically rationalized, blame and punishment seem…Read more
  •  35
    Some tensions between autonomy and self-governance
    Social Philosophy and Policy 20 (2): 221-244. 2003.
    The notions of autonomy and self-governance each capture something crucial about the moral dimensions of agents and actions. These notions are central to the ways in which we conceptualize ourselves and others. The concept of autonomy is especially crucial to understanding the distinct status of moral agents. For its part, self-governance has a significant relation to the evaluation of agents as individuals with particular characters, leading particular sorts of lives, and performing particular …Read more
  •  8
    Judaism and natural law
    Heythrop Journal 50 (6): 930-947. 2009.
  •  10
    Form and Cognition
    with John Zeis
    The Monist 80 (4): 539-557. 1997.
  •  34
    Deadly vices - by Gabrielle Taylor
    Philosophical Books 49 (2): 182-184. 2008.
  •  15
    Civics, Policy, and Demoralization
    Criminal Justice Ethics 36 (1): 25-44. 2017.
    Civics can be distinguished from policy. Civics concerns basic principles and institutions of political and legal order. Policy concerns specific ways in which particular ends are pursued by the st...
  •  17
    Are there key respects in which character and character defects are voluntary? Can agents with serious vices be rational agents? Jonathan Jacobs answers in the affirmative. Moral character is shaped through voluntary habits, including the ways we habituate ourselves, Jacobs believes. Just as individuals can voluntarily lead unhappy lives without making unhappiness an end, so can they degrade their ethical characters through voluntary action that does not have establishment of vice as its end. Ch…Read more