• Notre Dame De Namur University
    Dept. Of Philosophy
    Assistant Professor
University of Hawaii
Department of Philosophy
PhD
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America
  •  59
    A Reply to Stephen Angle
    Philosophy East and West 62 (3): 400-402. 2012.
  •  52
    Aristotle and Confucius on the Socioeconomics of Shame
    Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 13 (3): 323-342. 2014.
    The sociopolitical significance Aristotle and Confucius attribute to possessing a sense of shame serves to emphasize the importance of its development. Aristotle maintains that social class and wealth are prerequisites for its acquisition, while Confucius is optimistic that it can be developed regardless of socioeconomic considerations. The difference between their positions is largely due to competing views of praiseworthy dispositions. While Aristotle conceives of praiseworthy dispositions as …Read more
  •  36
    The Wrong of Bullshit
    Social Epistemology 38 (4): 413-424. 2024.
    It may be hard to imagine how bullshit, or being strategically indifferent to the veracity of one’s assertions, might ever be morally permissible. Yet to categorically denounce it is to find oneself burdened with defending the impossibility of justifiable bullshit, the indefeasibility of truthfulness and the inculpability of inveterate bullshitters. A much more tenable position is to expand one’s notion of bullshit to include unintentional indifference to veracity while also characterizing bulls…Read more
  •  35
    Confucian Ethics and Confederate Memorials
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 36 (2): 231-250. 2022.
    As self-conscious curators and critics of moral history, the early Confucians are relevant to the contemporary debate over the fate of memorials dedicated to morally flawed individuals. They provide us with a pragmatic justification that is distinct from those utilized in the current debate, and in many respects superior to the alternatives. In addition to supplying this curative philosophic resource, the early Confucian practices of ancestral memorialization suggest preventative measures we mig…Read more
  •  25
    Moral Perfection as the Counterfeit of Virtue
    Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 22 (1): 43-61. 2023.
    It is sometimes assumed that the best people—those whom it would be appropriate to admire and emulate—ought to be free of all moral defects. Numerous contemporary scholars have attributed this assumption to the early Confucian philosophers with moral perfection said to be a necessary condition for sagehood. Drawing upon the early Confucian literature I will argue in support of two claims. The first is that the early Confucians did not insist on the moral perfection of the sage; on the contrary, …Read more
  •  8
    Confucian Ethics and Confederate Memorials
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 37 (2): 77-96. 2023.
    As self-conscious curators and critics of moral history, the early Confucians are relevant to the contemporary debate over the fate of memorials dedicated to morally flawed individuals. They provide us with a pragmatic justification that is distinct from those utilized in the current debate, and in many respects superior to the alternatives. In addition to supplying this curative philosophic resource, the early Confucian practices of ancestral memorialization suggest preventative measures we mig…Read more