Before retirement, I was a senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Newcastle, Australia, with teaching and research interests in moral philosophy.
(a) My most recent work was in moral epistemology, the philosophy of Socrates, and ancient approaches to the question of how one should live. This was motivated by the familiar Socratic slogan that the unexamined life is not worth living, and was concerned to examine the specific role (if any) philosophy and critical thinking have to play in living well.
(b) My previous work focused on the theory of rational choice, specifically on the articulation and defense of the concept of "minim…
Before retirement, I was a senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Newcastle, Australia, with teaching and research interests in moral philosophy.
(a) My most recent work was in moral epistemology, the philosophy of Socrates, and ancient approaches to the question of how one should live. This was motivated by the familiar Socratic slogan that the unexamined life is not worth living, and was concerned to examine the specific role (if any) philosophy and critical thinking have to play in living well.
(b) My previous work focused on the theory of rational choice, specifically on the articulation and defense of the concept of "minimally constrained maximization" as a unified general solution to the well-known paradoxes of rationality, including the paradox of deterrence and the prisoner's dilemma, and application of that concept to issues as diverse as the possibility of a utilitarian justification of legal rights with moral force and the prospects of true friendship between egoists.
