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134Degrees of Separation in the PhaedoPhronesis 48 (2). 2003.It can be shown that, if we assume 'substance dualism', or the real distinctness of the soul from the body, then the standard objections to the Cyclical Argument in the "Phaedo" fail. So charity would presumably require that we take substance dualism to be presupposed by that argument. To do so would not beg any question, since substance dualism is a significantly weaker thesis than the immortality of the soul. Moreover, there is good textual evidence in favor of this presumption. A closer look …Read more
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15Commentary on SiskoProceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 16 (1): 199-206. 2000.
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3Aristotle's Theory of FriendshipDissertation, Harvard University. 1988.This thesis is an investigation of Aristotle's theory of friendship, as found in books VIII and IX of the Nicomachean Ethics. It has two major concerns: first, Aristotle's theory of goodness; second, Aristotle's view of the relationship between self-love and love of another. Aristotle's theory of goodness is important, because friendship consists of love, and love is always on account of some good. Thus, Aristotle's distinctions among various goods underlie his theory of the various sorts of fri…Read more
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60A defence of scottish common sensePhilosophical Quarterly 52 (209): 564-581. 2002.I provide a reading of Reid as an 'encyclopaedist', in Alasdair MacIntyre's sense, that is, as a scientist who conceives of himself as part of a broader scientific community, and who aims to make a contribution through work in a particular field. Reid's field is pneumatology. On this conception, Reid's recourse to 'common sense' is of a piece with the postulation, by any scientist, of a natural endowment for members of the same ostensible kind. Reid should therefore be understood as rejecting th…Read more
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19The egalitarianism of the Eudemian EthicsClassical Quarterly 48 (02): 411-432. 1998.There are various features of the language and exposition of the Eudemian Ethics that allow us to impute what might be called an ‘egalitarian’ outlook to its author. Each of these features, on its own, might be dismissed as of little significance, or as significant yet anomalous; but taken together, they constitute a body of evidence that cannot easily be put aside. The term ‘egalitarianism’ is of course imprecise, yet it serves its function well enough. I shall take it to signify a certain cast…Read more
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36Is the New Natural Law Thomistic?The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 13 (1): 57-67. 2013.Whether the new natural law theory counts as a plausible interpretation of St. Thomas Aquinas is not a mere antiquarian question in the history of philosophy but is itself a philosophical question, which bears on how we should interpret and assess the NNLT. Through an examination of problems in Germain Grisez’ influential paper “The First Principle of Practical Reason,” which proposed an interpretation of Summa theologiae I–II, q. 94, a. 2, it is argued that the NNLT is on every major point at o…Read more
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12Colloquium 4Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 9 (1): 157-166. 1993.
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473Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: An IntroductionCambridge University Press. 2005.This is an engaging and accessible introduction to the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle's great masterpiece of moral philosophy. Michael Pakaluk offers a thorough and lucid examination of the entire work, uncovering Aristotle's motivations and basic views while paying careful attention to his arguments. The chapter on friendship captures Aristotle's doctrine with clarity and insight, and Pakaluk gives original and compelling interpretations of the Function Argument, the Doctrine of the Mean, courag…Read more
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17Review of Eric Salem, In Pursuit of the Good: Intellect and Action in Aristotle's Ethics (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2010 (4). 2010.
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7On an Alleged Contradiction in Aristotle's Nicomachean EthicsOxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 22 201-19. 2002.
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1. Double effectIn Michael Pakaluk & Giles Pearson (eds.), Moral Psychology and Human Action in Aristotle, Oxford University Press. pp. 211. 2011.
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18Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics VIII.9, 1160a14–30Classical Quarterly 44 (01): 46-. 1994.This difficult and evidently corrupt text of Aristotle has given rise to a variety of differing readings among the commentators. I shall propose a new and conservative emendation of the text, which, I believe, resolves all of the difficulties. But it is helpful first to take stock of those difficulties, in order to see what is required of a solution.
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8The great question of practical truth, and a diminutive answerActa Philosophica 19 (1): 145-162. 2010.
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Mixed actions and double effectIn Michael Pakaluk & Giles Pearson (eds.), Moral Psychology and Human Action in Aristotle, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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13Colloquium 4Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 8 (1): 169-181. 1992.
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48Other Selves: Philosophers on Friendship (edited book)Hackett Publishing Company. 1991."Friendship, that pervasive, everyday, and subtle matter of our most intimate personal life, has rarely been accorded its due. Michael Pakaluk has retrieved the thoughts of our greatest thinkers on the subject and collected them into a handsome and handy volume.... A splendid book!" --M. M. Wartofsky, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Baruch College, City University of New York.
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19Genethics (review)Review of Metaphysics 46 (4): 847-848. 1993.This is intended to be a foundational study in what the author claims is a new branch of ethics, "genethics," which has as its distinctive subject matter three sorts of questions: Should some human being or group of human beings come into existence? If so, how many? Of these, what should they be like? Heyd maintains that these questions are posed for the first time, or in a distinctive way, because of developments in biotechnology, and that they cannot be resolved within any of the major types o…Read more
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13Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Books VIII and IX (Clarendon Aristotle Series) (edited book)Clarendon Press. 1998.Michael Pakaluk presents the first systematic study in English of Books VIII and IX of Aristotle's masterpiece of moral philosophy, the Nicomachean Ethics; these books comprise one of the most famous of all discussions of friendship. Pakaluk accompanies his fresh and accurate translation with a philosophical commentary which unfolds lucidly the various arguments in the text, assuming no knowledge of Greek on the part of the reader.
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18The Idea of Progress in Eighteenth-Century Britain (review)Review of Metaphysics 45 (1): 149-150. 1991.The author aims to write intellectual history in a traditional cast of a particular idea, the idea of progress, among a particular elite, the educated class of Britain roughly between 1730 and 1789. He describes the idea of progress as "belief in the movement over time of some aspect or aspects of human existence, within a social setting, toward a better condition". This admittedly broad definition is adopted in order to encompass belief in various sorts of progress. One might wonder why every v…Read more
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16Miller, Jon. The Reception of Aristotle’s Ethics.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Pp. x+310. $89.10 (review)Ethics 124 (3): 645-649. 2014.
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