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2Character Skepticism and the Virtuous JournalistJournal of Media Ethics 1-17. forthcoming.Virtue ethical inspired approaches to practical and professional ethics have long been endorsed across various disciplines. Journalistic ethics is no exception. Call such approaches Virtue Ethical Journalism (VEJ). Virtue ethics has also drawn considerable attention from the field of moral psychology, though not all of it is supportive. Among the critics, some take the view that character traits and virtues are not effective enough in guiding people’s behavior. As a result, they conclude that tr…Read more
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10Brain Data Availability Presents Unique Privacy ChallengesAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 15 (2): 146-148. 2024.In “Brain Data in Context: Are New Rights the Way to Mental and Brain Privacy?” Daniel Susser and Laura Cabrera (2024) make a compelling case as to why the greater availability of neural data itsel...
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71Belief Updating in Moral DilemmasReview of Philosophy and Psychology 4 (4): 705-714. 2013.Moral psychologists have shown that people’s past moral experiences can affect their subsequent moral decisions. One prominent finding in this line of research is that when people make a judgment about the Trolley dilemma after considering the Footbridge dilemma, they are significantly less likely to decide it is acceptable to redirect a train to save five people. Additionally, this ordering effect is asymmetrical, as making a judgment about the Trolley dilemma has little to no effect on people’…Read more
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9Explaining Away Some Challenges for Explaining Advanced Algorithmic SystemsSouthwest Philosophy Review 38 (1): 145-153. 2022.
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7On the Structure of the Virtuous Ethics CenterTeaching Ethics 21 (2): 175-186. 2021.When evaluating the success of an ethics center, one can look to the center’s level of engagement and achievement with affiliated institutions and communities. Such criteria are appropriate. What can be overlooked, however, is the internal structure and processes that help constitute the ethics center itself. In short, it is not merely the results an ethics center may claim that should be of interest for evaluating institutional health and longevity, but the very character of the organization it…Read more
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11The Broader Threat of Situationism to Virtue EthicsSouthwest Philosophy Review 36 (1): 75-84. 2020.
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20Situationism and the Virtues of BusinessBusiness and Professional Ethics Journal 39 (1): 97-119. 2020.Many ethicists endorse a character-based approach to business ethics (CBE). This approach includes a focus on the development of particular traits of character amenable to virtuous business practices. Situationists claim, however, that traditional understandings of character are challenged by various findings in empirical psychology. While defenders of CBE have responded this claim, these responses are very similar to those made in defense of a more general virtue ethical theory against situatio…Read more
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20Human Flourishing as an Ethical Guideline for Emerging NeurotechnologiesAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 10 (4): 196-197. 2019.
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28Research Participant Communication Via Social Media Platforms Remains RiskyAmerican Journal of Bioethics 19 (6): 66-68. 2019.Volume 19, Issue 6, June 2019, Page 66-68.
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18Laying the Foundation for Foundational TechnologiesAmerican Journal of Bioethics 18 (12): 67-68. 2018.
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20Eudaimonic Ethics: The Philosophy and Psychology of Living Well, written by L. Besser-JonesJournal of Moral Philosophy 14 (4): 471-474. 2017.
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98Explanatory anti-psychologism overturned by lay and scientific case classificationsSynthese 191 (5): 1-23. 2014.Many philosophers of science follow Hempel in embracing both substantive and methodological anti-psychologism regarding the study of explanation. The former thesis denies that explanations are constituted by psychological events, and the latter denies that psychological research can contribute much to the philosophical investigation of the nature of explanation. Substantive anti-psychologism is commonly defended by citing cases, such as hyper-complex descriptions or vast computer simulations, wh…Read more
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48Defusing Dangers of Imaginary CasesInternational Journal of Applied Philosophy 26 (1): 29-37. 2012.Some imaginary cases lead us to surprising conclusions. Unfortunately, there exists the danger of being so distracted by these conclusions that the imaginary cases themselves escape critical examination. Using the now famous ticking time-bomb scenario as an example, I propose a simple methodology to help us better understand what role a given imaginary case should be playing in ethical discourse. In particular, I hope to show why the ticking time-bomb scenario fails to have any probative value a…Read more
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648Intelligibility is Necessary for Scientific Explanation, but Accuracy May Not BeIn Naomi Miyake, David Peebles & Richard Cooper (eds.), Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Cognitive Science Society. 2012.Many philosophers of science believe that empirical psychology can contribute little to the philosophical investigation of explanations. They take this to be shown by the fact that certain explanations fail to elicit any relevant psychological events (e.g., familiarity, insight, intelligibility, etc.). We report results from a study suggesting that, at least among those with extensive science training, a capacity to render an event intelligible is considered a requirement for explanation. We als…Read more
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93The Ticking Time Bomb: When the Use of Torture Is and Is Not EndorsedReview of Philosophy and Psychology 5 (4): 543-563. 2014.Although standard ethical views categorize intentional torture as morally wrong, the ticking time bomb scenario is frequently offered as a legitimate counter-example that justifies the use of torture. In this scenario, a bomb has been placed in a city by a terrorist, and the only way to defuse the bomb in time is to torture a terrorist in custody for information. TTB scenarios appeal to a utilitarian “greater good” justification, yet critics maintain that the utilitarian structure depends on a q…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Moral Psychology |
Business Ethics |
Biomedical Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Moral Psychology |
Business Ethics |
Biomedical Ethics |