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40Against Adoption Based Objections to ProcreationPacific Philosophical Quarterly. forthcoming.Many philosophers and members of the public think it is wrong to procreate. If one wants children, it is permissible to adopt. But procreation is allegedly impermissible because there is some respect in which adoption is better than procreation. I show that such objections are unsound.
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27Algorithm Evaluation Without AutonomyAI and Ethics. forthcoming.In Algorithms & Autonomy, Rubel, Castro, and Pham (hereafter RCP), argue that the concept of autonomy is especially central to understanding important moral problems about algorithms. In particular, autonomy plays a role in analyzing the version of social contract theory that they endorse. I argue that although RCP are largely correct in their diagnosis of what is wrong with the algorithms they consider, those diagnoses can be appropriated by moral theories RCP see as in competition with their a…Read more
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Algorithm Evaluation Without AutonomyAI and Ethics. forthcoming.In Algorithms & Autonomy, Rubel, Castro, and Pham (hereafter RCP), argue that the concept of autonomy is especially central to understanding important moral problems about algorithms. In particular, autonomy plays a role in analyzing the version of social contract theory that they endorse. I argue that although RCP are largely correct in their diagnosis of what is wrong with the algorithms they consider, those diagnoses can be appropriated by moral theories RCP see as in competition with their a…Read more
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Algorithm Evaluation Without AutonomyAI and Ethics. forthcoming.In Algorithms & Autonomy, Rubel, Castro, and Pham (hereafter RCP), argue that the concept of autonomy is especially central to understanding important moral problems about algorithms. In particular, autonomy plays a role in analyzing the version of social contract theory that they endorse. I argue that although RCP are largely correct in their diagnosis of what is wrong with the algorithms they consider, those diagnoses can be appropriated by moral theories RCP see as in competition with their a…Read more
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117The Dominant Ordinary Use of ‘Conspiracy Theory‘ is Narrow: A Reply to CensonSocial Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 13 (4): 38-40. 2024.
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217Divine Hiddenness and De Jure Objections to Theism: You Can Have BothPhilosophy and Theology. forthcoming.
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259Against the Double Standard Argument in AI EthicsPhilosophy and Technology 37 (1): 1-5. 2024.In an important and widely cited paper, Zerilli, Knott, Maclaurin, and Gavaghan (2019) argue that opaque AI decision makers are at least as transparent as human decision makers and therefore the concern that opaque AI is not sufficiently transparent is mistaken. I argue that the concern about opaque AI should not be understood as the concern that such AI fails to be transparent in a way that humans are transparent. Rather, the concern is that the way in which opaque AI is opaque is very differen…Read more
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169The Relevance of Belief Outsourcing to Whether Arguments Can Change MindsProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 1-4. forthcoming.There is a wealth of evidence which indicates that arguments are not very efficient tools for changing minds. Against this skepticism, Novaes (2023) presents evidence that, given the right social context, arguments sometimes play a significant role in belief revision. However, drawing on Levy (2021), I argue that the evidence Novaes cites is compatible with the view that it is not arguments that change individual minds but instead belief outsourcing that occurs alongside the consideration of arg…Read more
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231Is ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Harmful? A Reply to Foster and IchikawaSocial Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 12 (9): 27-31. 2023.
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426Gaslighting and Peer DisagreementJournal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 26 (3). 2024.I present a counterexample to Kirk-Giannini’s Dilemmatic Theory of gaslighting.
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396Strawsonian Hard DeterminismJournal of Philosophy. forthcoming.Strawsonian accounts of moral responsibility are widely associated with opposition to hard determinism. However, it is only an historical accident that these views are bundled together. I show that Strawson’s deepest commitments are perfectly consistent with, and even support, a new and improved form of hard determinism. The resulting view is not revisionist about our practices in the way that extant versions of hard determinism are. After setting out my view, I then turn to Latham and Tierney’s…Read more
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167Substantive Disagreement in the Le Monde Debate and Beyond: Replies to Duetz and Dentith, Basham, and HewittSocial Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 11 (11): 18-25. 2022.I reply to criticisms from Duetz and Dentith, Basham, and Hewitt. I argue that the central disputes on this topic concern how ordinary people understand conspiracy theories and how to evaluate concrete conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists.
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256The Role of Stereotypes in Theorizing About Conspiracy Theories: A Reply to DentithSocial Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 11 (8): 93-99. 2022.
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195A Revised Defense of the Le Monde GroupSocial Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 11 (8): 18-26. 2022.
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460Virtue signalling and the Condorcet Jury theoremSynthese 199 (5-6): 14821-14841. 2021.One might think that if the majority of virtue signallers judge that a proposition is true, then there is significant evidence for the truth of that proposition. Given the Condorcet Jury Theorem, individual virtue signallers need not be very reliable for the majority judgment to be very likely to be correct. Thus, even people who are skeptical of the judgments of individual virtue signallers should think that if a majority of them judge that a proposition is true, then that provides significant …Read more
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248Review of The Trinity: A Philosophical Investigation (review)Journal of Analytic Theology 9 700-702. 2021.
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534Adjuncts Are ExploitedPhilosophia 50 (3): 1153-1173. 2021.Jason Brennan and Phillip Magness (2018) and (2020) argue that adjuncts are not exploited. We are sympathetic to some of their points. We agree, for example, that certain ways in which adjuncts are compared to sweatshop workers are offensive. For, as Brennan and Magness point out, there are many respects in which adjuncts are much better off than sweatshop workers. However, we show that the core insights of their paper are compatible with the view that adjuncts are exploited. Furthermore, their …Read more
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378Error Theories and Bare-Difference Methodology: A Reply to KopeikinJournal of Value Inquiry 57 (4): 641-650. 2023.Kopeikin (forthcoming a, forthcoming b) and Rachels’ (1975) bare-difference cases elicit the intuition that killing is no different than letting die. Hill’s (2018) bare-difference cases elicit the intuition that killing is worse than letting die. At least one of the intuitions must be mistaken. This calls for an error theory. Hill has an error theory for the intuition elicited by the Kopeikin/Rachels’ cases. Kopeikin and Rachels have an error theory for the intuition elicited by Hill’s cases. A …Read more
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805Why God allows undeserved horrendous evilReligious Studies 58 (4): 772-786. 2022.I defend a new version of the non-identity theodicy. After presenting the theodicy, I reply to a series of objections. I then argue that my approach improves upon similar approaches in the literature.
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514Why Do We Believe Humans Matter More than Other Animals?Journal of Applied Animal Ethics Research. 2020.Some recent psychological studies suggest that the belief that humans matter more than other animals can be strengthened by cognitive dissonance. Jaquet (forthcom- ing) argues that some of these studies also show that the relevant belief is primar- ily caused by cognitive dissonance and is therefore subject to a debunking argument. We offer an alternative hypothesis according to which we are already speciesist but cognitive dissonance merely enhances our speciesism. We argue that our hypothesis …Read more
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133Modal Realism is a Newcomb ProblemErkenntnis 87 (6): 2993-3005. 2022.Some philosophers worry that if modal realism is true, you have no reason to prevent evils. For if you prevent an evil, you’ll have a counterpart somewhere that allows a similar evil. And if you refrain, your counterpart will end up preventing the relevant evil. Either way one evil is prevented and one is allowed. Your act makes no difference. I argue that this is mistaken. If modal realism is true, you are in a variant of Newcomb’s Problem. And if Lewis’ view about Newcomb’s Problem is true, th…Read more
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35Haybron on Mood Propensity and HappinessJournal of Happiness Studies 10. 2009.Daniel Haybron has made an original contribution to philosophical discussions of happiness. He has put forward a theory that identifies happiness with moods and the propensity to experience moods. Haybron’s contribution deserves a critical examination. The first section of my paper is interpretive. I show how Haybron uses the concepts of ‘central affective states’ and ‘mood propensity’ to define happiness. The second and third sections of the paper are critical. They focus on the inclusion of mo…Read more
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785Animals Deserve Moral ConsiderationJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 33 (2): 177-185. 2020.Timothy Hsiao asks a good question: Why believe animals deserve moral consideration? His answer is that we should not. He considers various other answers and finds them wanting. In this paper I consider an answer Hsiao has not yet discussed: We should accept a conservative view about how to form beliefs. And such a view will instruct us to believe that animals deserve moral consideration. I think conservatives like Hsiao do best to answer his question in a way that upholds the moral status of an…Read more
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808What Are the Odds that Everyone is Depraved?American Philosophical Quarterly 57 (3): 299-308. 2020.Why does God allow evil? One hypothesis is that God desires the existence and activity of free creatures but He was unable to create a world with such creatures and such activity without also allowing evil. If Molinism is true, what probability should be assigned to this hypothesis? Some philosophers claim that a low probability should be assigned because there are an infinite number of possible people and because we have no reason to suppose that such creatures will choose one way rather than a…Read more
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694Aquinas and Gregory the Great on the Puzzle of Petitionary PrayerErgo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 5. 2018.I defend a solution to the puzzle of petitionary prayer based on some ideas of Aquinas, Gregory the Great, and contemporary desert theorists. I then address a series of objections. Along the way broader issues about the nature of desert, what is required for an action to have a point, and what is required for a puzzle to have a solution are discussed.
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49Good News for the Logical Autonomy of EthicsArgumentation 23 (2): 277-283. 2009.Toomas Karmo claims that his taxonomy of ethical sentences has the result that there does not exist a sound argument with all non-ethical premises and an ethical conclusion. In a recent paper, Mark T. Nelson argues against this claim. Nelson presents a sound argument that he takes to be such that (i) Karmo’s taxonomy classifies that argument’s single premise as non-ethical and (ii) Karmo’s taxonomy classifies that argument’s conclusion as ethical. I attempt to show that Nelson is mistaken about …Read more
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4882Murdering an Accident Victim: A New Objection to the Bare-Difference ArgumentAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 96 (4): 767-778. 2018.Many philosophers, psychologists, and medical practitioners believe that killing is no worse than letting die on the basis of James Rachels's Bare-Difference Argument. I show that his argument is unsound. In particular, a premise of the argument is that his examples are as similar as is consistent with one being a case of killing and the other being a case of letting die. However, the subject who lets die has both the ability to kill and the ability to let die while the subject who kills lacks t…Read more
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