University of Pennsylvania
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 2008
Waltham, Massachusetts, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Normative Ethics
Immanuel Kant
  •  137
    Can Kant have an account of moral education?
    Journal of Philosophy of Education 43 (4): 471-484. 2009.
    There is an apparent tension between Immanuel Kant's model of moral agency and his often-neglected philosophy of moral education. On the one hand, Kant's account of moral knowledge and decision-making seems to be one that can be self-taught. Kant's famous categorical imperative and related 'fact of reason' argument suggest that we learn the content and application of the moral law on our own. On the other hand, Kant has a sophisticated and detailed account of moral education that goes well beyon…Read more
  •  123
    Delusions of Virtue: Kant on Self-Conceit
    Kantian Review 19 (3): 419-447. 2014.
    Little extended attention has been given to Kant's notion of self-conceit, though it appears throughout his theoretical and practical philosophy. Authors who discuss self-conceit often describe it as a kind of imperiousness or arrogance in which the conceited agent seeks to impose selfish principles upon others, or sees others as worthless. I argue that these features of self-conceit are symptoms of a deeper and more thoroughgoing failure. Self-conceit is best described as the tendency to insist…Read more
  •  68
    Community and Progress in Kant's Moral Philosophy
    Catholic University of America Press. 2012.
    Denis, Lara. Moral Self-Regard: Duties to Oneself in Kant's Moral Theory. New York: Garland Publishing. 2001. Engstrom, Stephen. “The Concept ofthe Highest Good in Kant's Moral The- ory.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52, ...
  •  66
    Much Obliged: Kantian Gratitude Reconsidered
    Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 98 (3): 330-363. 2016.
    In his published texts and lectures on moral philosophy, Kant repeatedly singles out gratitude for discussion. Nevertheless, puzzles about the derivation, content, and nature of this duty remain. This paper seeks to solve some of these puzzles. Centrally, I argue that it is essential to attend to a distinction that Kant makes between well-wishing benevolence (Wohlwollen) and active beneficence (Wohlthun) on the part of a benefactor. On the Kantian account, I argue, a different type of gratitude …Read more
  •  54
    Neither justice nor charity? Kant on ‘general injustice’
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 47 (4): 477-498. 2017.
    We often make a distinction between what we owe as a matter of repayment, and what we give or offer out of charity. But how shall we describe our obligations to fellow citizens when we are in a position to be charitable because of a past injustice on the part of the state? This essay examines the moral implications of past injustice by considering Immanuel Kant's remarks on this phenomenon in his lectures and writings. In particular, it discusses the role of the state and the individual in addre…Read more
  •  31
    Review: Timmons, Mark and Baiasu, Sorin, Kant on Practical Justification (review)
    Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 96 (4): 489-498. 2014.
    Name der Zeitschrift: Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie Jahrgang: 96 Heft: 4 Seiten: 489-498.
  •  30
    Kant on Traveling Blacksmiths and Passive Citizenship
    Kant Studien 112 (1): 105-126. 2021.
    Kant makes and elaborates upon a distinction between active citizenship and passive citizenship. Active citizens enjoy the right to vote and rights of political participation generally. Passive citizens do not, though they still enjoy the protection of the law as citizens. Kant’s examples have left commentators puzzling over how these distinctions follow from his stated rationale or justification for active citizenship, namely, that active citizens possess a kind of political and economic self-s…Read more
  •  28
    Kant and Colonialism (review)
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 24 (1): 185-188. 2016.
  •  23
    Kant on Freedom and Spontaneity (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2018.
    Spontaneity – understood as an action of the mind or will that is not determined by a prior external stimulus – is a theme that resonates throughout Immanuel Kant's theoretical and practical philosophy. Though spontaneity and the concomitant notion of freedom lie at the foundation of many of Kant's most pivotal theses and arguments regarding cognition, judgment, and moral action, spontaneity and freedom themselves often remain cloaked in mystery, or accessible only via transcendental argument. T…Read more
  •  22
    Kant's Ethics
    Cambridge University Press. 2022.
    The Element provides an overview of Immanuel Kant's arguments regarding the content of the moral law, as well as an exposition of his arguments for the bindingness of the moral law for rational agents. The Element also considers common objections to Kant's ethics.
  •  19
    Can Kant Have an Account of Moral Education?
    Journal of Philosophy of Education 43 (4): 471-484. 2009.
    There is an apparent tension between Immanuel Kant’s model of moral agency and his often-neglected philosophy of moral education. On the one hand, Kant’s account of moral knowledge and decision-making seems to be one that can be self-taught. Kant’s famous categorical imperative and related ‘fact of reason’ argument suggest that we learn the content and application of the moral law on our own. On the other hand, Kant has a sophisticated and detailed account of moral education that goes well beyon…Read more
  •  17
    This paper considers the role of ‘vices of culture’ in Immanuel Kant’s account of radical evil and education. I argue that Kant was keenly aware of a uniquely human tendency to allow a self...
  •  16
    The Emergence of Autonomy in Kant's Moral Philosophy ed. by Stefano Bacin and Oliver Sensen (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 58 (2): 407-409. 2020.
    Kant introduces autonomy in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals as "the characteristic of the will by which it is a law to itself". Autonomy is Kant's solution to a puzzle about how to describe and account for moral obligation, which binds necessarily and cannot, therefore, be derived from any independent desire or interest. But Kant's pithy description of autonomy raises more questions than it settles. How is self-legislation possible in the first place? How is autonomy related to the v…Read more
  •  16
    This paper considers the role of ‘vices of culture’ in Immanuel Kant’s account of radical evil and education. I argue that Kant was keenly aware of a uniquely human tendency to allow a self-centered concern for status to misunderstand or co-opt the language of dignity and equal worth for its own purposes. This tendency lies at the root of the ‘vices of culture’ and ‘aggravated vices’ that Kant describes in the Religion and Doctrine of Virtue, respectively. When it comes to moral education, then,…Read more
  •  15
    Kant on Despondent Moral Failure
    Kantian Review 28 (1): 125-141. 2023.
    Typically, Kant describes maxims that violate the moral law as engaging in a kind of comparative judgement: the person who makes a false promise judges it best – at least subjectively – to deceive her friend. I argue that this is not the only possible account of moral failure for Kant. In particular, when we examine maxims of so-called despondency (Verzagtheit) we find that some maxims are resistant to comparative judgement. I argue that this is true for at least two reasons: first, the desponde…Read more
  •  7
    Do Children Have Common Sense?
    In Salomo Friedlaender (ed.), Kant for Children, De Gruyter. pp. 85-104. 2024.
  •  7
    Kant on the Miser
    In Violetta L. Waibel, Margit Ruffing & David Wagner (eds.), Natur und Freiheit. Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, De Gruyter. pp. 1975-1984. 2018.
  • Kant on Luck
    In Ian M. Church & Robert J. Hartman (eds.), Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Psychology of Luck, Routledge. forthcoming.
  • Inclination, Need, and Moral Misery
    In Kate A. Moran (ed.), Kant on Freedom and Spontaneity, Cambridge University Press. 2018.
  • Chapter 2. Should We Believe in Moral Progress?
    In Samuel Stoner & Paul Wilford (eds.), Kant and the Possibility of Progress: From Modern Hopes to Postmodern Anxieties, University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 30-46. 2021.