•  67
    Belief Updating in Moral Dilemmas
    with Zachary Horne and Derek Powell
    Review 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
  •  7
    Explaining Away Some Challenges for Explaining Advanced Algorithmic Systems
    Southwest Philosophy Review 38 (1): 145-153. 2022.
  •  4
    On the Structure of the Virtuous Ethics Center
    Teaching 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
  •  8
    The Broader Threat of Situationism to Virtue Ethics
    Southwest Philosophy Review 36 (1): 75-84. 2020.
  •  14
    Situationism and the Virtues of Business
    Business 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
  •  13
    Human Flourishing as an Ethical Guideline for Emerging Neurotechnologies
    American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 10 (4): 196-197. 2019.
  •  24
    Research Participant Communication Via Social Media Platforms Remains Risky
    American Journal of Bioethics 19 (6): 66-68. 2019.
    Volume 19, Issue 6, June 2019, Page 66-68.
  •  14
    Laying the Foundation for Foundational Technologies
    American Journal of Bioethics 18 (12): 67-68. 2018.
  •  594
    Intelligibility is Necessary for Scientific Explanation, but Accuracy May Not Be
    with Mike Braverman, John Clevenger, Ian Harmon, Andrew Higgins, Zachary Horne, and Jonathan Waskan
    In 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
  •  85
    The Ticking Time Bomb: When the Use of Torture Is and Is Not Endorsed
    with Denise Dellarosa Cummins
    Review 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
  •  84
    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
  •  37
    Defusing Dangers of Imaginary Cases
    International 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