Bruce N. Waller, Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and the Desire to Be a God, (Lexington Books), 2020
(Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice)
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - April 7, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Something More Than Words: A Review of (Re-)Defining Racism: A Philosophical Analysis, Alberto G. Urquidez
AbstractDrawing on the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alberto G. Urquidez works to free the fly (i.e. race/racism) from the metaphorical bottle by shifting the terms of the debate away from attempts at describing a thing that is not real and toward a normative or prescriptive approach to racism, rather than race, that emphasizes how the concept ought to be defined, as well as deployed, for anti-racist ends. Urquidez refers to this normative pragmatic approach as ‘conventionalism’ and the overarching structure of(Re-)Defining Racism: A Philosophical Analysis thus describes this position and then emphasizes its norma...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - April 5, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Empathy and Common Ground
AbstractCritics of empathy —the capacity to share the mental lives of others—have charged that empathy is intrinsically biased. It occurs between no more than two people, and its key function is arguably to coordinate and align feelings, thoughts, and responses between those who are often already in close personal relatio nships. Because of this, critics claim that empathy is morally unnecessary at best and morally harmful at worst. This paper argues, however, that it is precisely because of its ability to connect people by coordinating and aligning their feelings, thoughts, and responses, that empathy is especially we...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - April 3, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Racism: a Moral or Explanatory Concept?
(Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice)
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - April 2, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The Linguistically Informed Virtue-Novice as Precocious: a Reply to Stichter ’s The Skillfulness of Virtue
AbstractStichter ’sThe Skillfulness of Virtue provides an original and contemporary discussion of virtue-acquisition from an interdisciplinary standpoint. By equating virtues to skills, he offers an empirically informed progression towards virtue expertise. With the focus on gaining proficiency, there is little room to analyse the status of the virtue-novice, who is equated to a novice in any other skill: an agent consciously following simple rules, gaining experience in order to respond to normatively-laden situations with more automaticity in the following stages of skill-acquisition. This paper argues for a disanalogy...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - April 2, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Aristotle and Expertise: Ideas on the Skillfulness of Virtue
AbstractMany philosophers working on virtue theory have resisted the idea that the virtues are practical skills, apparently following Aristotle ’s resistance to that idea. Bucking the trend, Matt Stichter defends a strong version of this idea inThe Skillfulness of Virtue by marshaling a wide range of conceptual and empirical arguments to argue that the moral virtues are robust skills involving the cognitive-conative unification of Aristotelianphron êsis ( ‘practical intelligence’). Here I argue that Aristotle overlooks a more delimited kind of practical intelligence, strongly analogous to his own account ofphron ês...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - March 30, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The Virtue of Self-Compassion
AbstractTo be self-compassionate is to show compassion not (only) for others but for yourself. Research in psychology suggests that self-compassion leads to improved well-being and functioning. With the psychological research in the background, we give a philosophical account of self-compassion and its ethical significance. We build a definition of self-compassion, suggesting that self-compassion is different from but closely analogous to compassion for others. Our definition departs from the most prominent definition in the psychological literature but is well-equipped to guide ongoing empirical research. We then argue th...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - March 26, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The Reason-Giving Force of Requests
AbstractHow do we change the normative landscape by making requests? It will be argued that by making requests we create reasons for action if and only if certain conditions are met. We are able to create reasons if and only if doing so is valuable for the requester, and if they respect the requestee. Respectful requests have a normative force – it will be argued – because it is of instrumental value to us that we all have the normative power of creating reasons by making requests. The normative power has the potential for creating and shaping valuable interactions and relationships for the requester and the requestee....
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - March 24, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Chris Cowie, Morality and Epistemic Judgement, (OUP), 2019
(Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice)
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - March 23, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Concepts as Tools Not Rules: a Commentary on (Re-) Defining Racism
AbstractIn(Re-) Defining Racism, Alberto Urquidez argues that conflicting philosophical accounts over the definition of racism are at bottom linguistic confusions that would benefit from a Wittgensteinian-inspired approach. In this essay, I argue that such an approach would be helpful in disputes over the definition of metaphysically contested concepts, such as “race,” or semantically contested concepts, such as “racialization.” I disagree, however, that such insights would prove helpful or do very little for disputes concerning normatively contested concepts, such as “racism.” (Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice)
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - March 15, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Speciesism and Speciescentrism
AbstractThe term ‘speciesism’ was once coined to name discrimination against nonhuman animals (Ryder1975) as well as the bias that such discrimination expresses (Singer2009 [1975]). It has sparked a debate on criteria for being morally considerable and the relative significance of human and nonhuman animals ’ interests. Many defenses of the preferential consideration of humans have come with a denial of the normative meaning of the term ‘speciesism’ itself (e.g., Cohen1986, Kagan2016). In fact, defenders of the moral relevance of species membership and their critics alike have often used ‘speciesism’ as a mer...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - March 15, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice at 24
AbstractThis Editorial outlines recent developments in the Journal ’s scope, mission and review policy. It also illustrates the range of topics addressed on the pages of Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, which is now entering its 24th year. (Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice)
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - March 12, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
What Is Basic Intrinsic Value?
AbstractThe concept of basic intrinsic value is important for axiology. Michael Zimmerman and Timothy Perrine each present necessary and sufficient conditions for something ’s having basic intrinsic value. I argue that neither account is satisfactory. I present two objections to Zimmerman’s view. First, I argue that his view cannot accommodate some widely held and plausible views about the intrinsic value of knowledge and true belief. Second, I argue that it cannot accommodate some plausible views about the intrinsic value of states when one state occurs in virtue of the other. It cannot handle “clusters” of intrin...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - February 16, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Crisis Nationalism: To What Degree Is National Partiality Justifiable during a Global Pandemic?
AbstractAre countries especially entitled, if not obliged, to prioritize the interests or well-being of their own citizens during a global crisis, such as a global pandemic? We call this partiality for compatriots in times of crisis “crisis nationalism”. Vaccine nationalism is one vivid example of crisis nationalism during the COVID-19 pandemic; so is the case of the US government’s purchasing a 3-month supply of the global stock of the antiviral Remdesivir for domestic use. Is crisis nationalism justifiable at all, and, if it is, what are its limits? We examine some plausible arguments for national partiality, and c...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - February 14, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
An Ethical Framework for Hacking Operations
AbstractIn recent years the power and reach of prominent hacker groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec has been clearly demonstrated. However, in a world where hackers are able to wield significant online power, can they do so ethically as legitimate agents? To answer this question this paper will develop an ethical framework based on the premise that hackers have exhibited instances where they have acted to protect people from harm at a time when there was no one else to do so. At its core this paper will argue that political hacking can be justified when it is done to protect the vital interests of oneself or others. Moreo...
Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - February 12, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
