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53Intuitive Probabilities and the Limitation of Moral ImaginationCognitive Science 42 (S1): 38-68. 2018.There is a vast literature that seeks to uncover features underlying moral judgment by eliciting reactions to hypothetical scenarios such as trolley problems. These thought experiments assume that participants accept the outcomes stipulated in the scenarios. Across seven studies, we demonstrate that intuition overrides stipulated outcomes even when participants are explicitly told that an action will result in a particular outcome. Participants instead substitute their own estimates of the proba…Read more
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Locke on FreedomThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2020 Edition). 2020.John Locke’s views on the nature of freedom of action and freedom of will have played an influential role in the philosophy of action and in moral psychology. Locke offers distinctive accounts of action and forbearance, of will and willing, of voluntary (as opposed to involuntary) actions and forbearances, and of freedom (as opposed to necessity). These positions lead him to dismiss the traditional question of free will as absurd, but also raise new questions, such as whether we are (or can be) …Read more
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51Sensitivity to shifts in probability of harm and benefit in moral dilemmasCognition 209 (C): 104548. 2021.Psychologists and philosophers who pose moral dilemmas to understand moral judgment typically specify outcomes as certain to occur in them. This contrasts with real-life moral decision-making, which is almost always infused with probabilities (e.g., the probability of a given outcome if an action is or is not taken). Seven studies examine sensitivity to the size and location of shifts in probabilities of outcomes that would result from action in moral dilemmas. We find that moral judgments diffe…Read more
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30Berkeley's Criticisms of Shaftesbury and HutchesonRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 88 97-119. 2020.In this paper, I attempt to clarify the nature and purpose of Berkeley's criticisms of Shaftesbury's and Hutcheson's ethical systems in the third chapter ofAlciphron, explaining the extent to which those criticisms rely on the truth of idealism and considering whether Berkeley or his philosophical opponents have the better of the arguments. In the end, I conclude that some of Berkeley's criticisms are based on confusion and misunderstanding, others are likely contradicted by the empirical eviden…Read more
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17O "Parmênides" de Platão revisitadoVoluntas: Revista Internacional de Filosofia 11 (1): 8. 2020.O Parmênides de Platão é um diálogo notoriamente desafiador. Para apresentar uma interpretação completamente satisfatória dele, cada argumento precisa ser reconstruído em seus próprios termos e se todas as reconstruções forem acuradas, as interconexões lógicas entre os argumentos de ambas as partes do diálogo devem revelar a mensagem geral do Parmênides. Aqui gostaria de resumir minha interpretação e considerar algumas importantes objeções e alternativas a ela, particularmente como estas aparece…Read more
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The Coherence of Orthodox Fourth Amendment JurisprudenceGeorge Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal 15 261-296. 2005.
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133Binding arguments and hidden variablesAnalysis 67 (1): 65-71. 2007.o (2000), 243). In particular, the idea is that binding interactions between the relevant expressions and natural lan- guage quantifiers are best explained by the hypothesis that those expressions harbor hidden but bindable variables. Recently, however, Herman Cappelen and Ernie Lepore have rejected such binding arguments for the presence of hid- den variables on the grounds that they overgeneralize — that, if sound, such arguments would establish the presence of hidden variables in all sorts of …Read more
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Will and MotivationIn Peter R. Anstey (ed.), The Oxford handbook of British philosophy in the seventeenth century, Oxford University Press. pp. 393-414. 2013.
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1Where Exactly Does Berkeley Argue for the Existence of God in the *Principles*?History of Philosophy Quarterly 30. 2013.
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1Locke's 'Sensitive Knowledge': Knowledge or Assurance?Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy 7 187-224. 2016.
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Berkeley's *A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge*In Richard Brook & Bertil Belfrage (eds.), The Bloomsbury Companion to Berkeley, Bloomsbury. pp. 99-120. 2017.
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Are Locke's Persons Modes or Substances?In Paul Lodge & Tom Stoneham (eds.), Locke and Leibniz on Substance and Identity, Routledge. pp. 110-127. 2015.
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89The Relevance of Intention to Criminal WrongdoingCriminal Law and Philosophy 10 (4): 745-762. 2016.In this paper, we defend the general thesis that intentions are relevant not only to moral permissibility and impermissibility, but also to criminal wrongdoing, as well as a specific version of the Doctrine of Double Effect that we believe can help solve some challenging puzzles in the criminal law. We begin by answering some recent arguments that marginalize or eliminate the role of intentions as components of criminal wrongdoing [e.g., Alexander and Ferzan, Chiao, Walen ]. We then turn to some…Read more
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6Moral Responsibility for Unwitting Omissions: A New Tracing ViewIn The Ethics and Law of Omissions, . pp. 106-129. 2017.Unwitting omissions pose a challenge for theories of moral responsibility. For commonsense morality holds many unwitting omitters morally responsible for their omissions (and for the consequences thereof), even though they appear to lack both awareness and control. For example, some people who leave dogs trapped in their cars outside on a hot day (see Sher 2009), or who forget to pick something up from the store as they promised (see Clarke 2014) seem to be blameworthy for their omissions. And y…Read more
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26The Nature, Grounds, and Limits of Berkeley's Argument for Passive ObedienceBerkeley Studies 26 3-19. 2017.Scholars disagree about the nature of the doctrinal apparatus that supports Berkeley’s case for passive obedience to the sovereign. Is he a rule-utilitarian, or natural law theorist, or ethical egoist, or some combination of some or all these elements? Here I argue that Berkeley is an act-utilitarian who thinks that one is more likely to act rightly by following certain sorts of rules. I also argue that Berkeley mischaracterizes and misevaluates Locke’s version of the social contract theory. Fin…Read more
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40Locke on the Freedom to WillLocke Studies 31 43-68. 2000.In Book II, Chapter xxi of An essay concerning human understanding, Locke claims that a mind's will is its power 'to order the consideration of any Idea, or the forbearing to consider it; or to prefer the motion of any part of the body to its rest, and vice versa in any particular instance' (Il. xxi. 5).l To exercise this power (that is, to will), Locke says, is to perform an act of volition (or: willing), volitions being actions of the mind directed to the performance of other actions (of the m…Read more
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148So Close, Yet So Far: Why Solutions to the Closeness Problem for the Doctrine of Double Effect Fall ShortNoûs 49 (2): 376-409. 2013.According to the classical Doctrine of Double Effect, there is a morally significant difference between intending harm and merely foreseeing harm. Versions of DDE have been defended in a variety of creative ways, but there is one difficulty, the so-called “closeness problem”, that continues to bedevil all of them. The problem is that an agent's intention can always be identified in such a fine-grained way as to eliminate an intention to harm from almost any situation, including those that have b…Read more
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28The Ethics and Law of Omissions (edited book)Oup Usa. 2017.This volume explores the principles that govern moral responsibility and legal liability for omissions. Contributors defend different views about the ground of moral responsibility, the conditions of legal liability for an omission to rescue, and the basis for accepting a " for omissions in the criminal law.
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151Three Cheers for Double EffectPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 89 (1): 125-158. 2014.The doctrine of double effect, together with other moral principles that appeal to the intentions of moral agents, has come under attack from many directions in recent years, as have a variety of rationales that have been given in favor of it. In this paper, our aim is to develop, defend, and provide a new theoretical rationale for a secular version of the doctrine. Following Quinn (1989), we distinguish between Harmful Direct Agency and Harmful Indirect Agency. We propose the following version …Read more
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63Does Locke Have an Akrasia Problem?Journal of Modern Philosophy 1 (1): 9. 2019.Starting in the second edition of the Essay, Locke becomes interested in the phenomenon of akrasia, or weakness of will. As he conceives it, akrasia occurs when we will something contrary to what we acknowledge to be our greater good. This commitment represents an important shift from the first edition of the Essay, where Locke argues that the will is always determined by a judgement of our greater good. But traces of the first-edition view are present even in the second edition, so much so that…Read more
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