Volume I
Issue 1
The Myth of Instrumental Rationality
by Joseph Raz
The paper distinguishes between instrumental reasons and instrumental rationality. It argues that instrumental reasons are not reasons to take the...
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April, 2005
"The Government Beguiled Me": The Entrapment Defense and the Problem of Private Entrapment
by Gideon Yaffe
Defendants who are being tried for accepting a temptation issued by the government sometimes employ the entrapment defense. Acquittal of some of...
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April, 2005
Two Approaches to Instrumental Rationality and Belief Consistency
by John Brunero
R. Jay Wallace argues that the normativity of instrumental rationality can be traced to the independent rational requirement to hold consistent...
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April, 2005
Volume I
Issue 2
The Good, the Bad, and the Blameworthy
by Neil Levy
Accounts of moral responsibility can be divided into those that claim that attributability of an act, omission, or attitude to an agent is sufficient...
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June, 2005
Essentially Comparative Concepts
by Jonathan Dancy
This paper examines Larry Temkin’s notion of an ‘essentially comparative’ concept and the uses to which he puts it. It is suggested that this notion...
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June, 2005
Is Gibbard a Realist?
by Laura Schroeter and Francois Schroeter
In Thinking How to Live, Allan Gibbard claims that expressivists can vindicate realism about moral discourse. This paper argues that Gibbard’s...
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August, 2005
Volume I
Issue 3
Cudworth and Normative Explanations
by Mark Schroeder
Moral theories usually aspire to be explanatory – to tell us why something is wrong, why it is good, or why you ought to do it. So it is worth...
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October, 2005
First Force
by William A. Edmundson
The state’s very existence seems morally problematic: there may be a justification, but there had better be. A vivid way of putting this is to say...
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November, 2005
Explaining Reasons: Where Does the Buck Stop?
by Ulrike Heuer
The buck-passing account of values offers an explanation of the close relation of values and reasons for action: of why it is that the question...
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March, 2006
Volume II
Issue 1
Strict Liability and the Mitigation of Moral Luck
by Greg Keating
The general problem of moral luck—that responsibility is profoundly affected by factors beyond the control of the person held responsible—is often...
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August, 2006
Egalitarian Justice and Innocent Choice
by Nir Eyal
In its standard formulation, luck-egalitarianism is false. Disadvantages that result from free choice to take a risk can constitute egalitarian...
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January, 2007
A Unified Moral Terrain?
by Stephen Everson
In his book What We Owe to Each Other, Thomas Scanlon proposes what he calls a ‘contractualist’ explanation of what he describes as ‘a central part...
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July, 2007
Volume II
Issue 2
Well-Being and Virtue
by Dan Haybron
Perfectionist views of well-being maintain that well-being ultimately consists, at least partly, in excellence or virtue. This paper argues that such...
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August, 2007
Welfare, Achievement, and Self-Sacrifice
by Douglas W. Portmore
Many philosophers hold that the achievement of one's goals can contribute to one's welfare apart from whatever independent contributions that the...
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September, 2007
'Simply in Virtue of Being Human': the Whos and Whys of Human Rights
by John Gardner
In this paper I raise some questions about the familiar claim, recently reiterated by James Griffin, that human rights are rights that humans have...
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February, 2008
Volume II
Issue 3
Contractualism, Reciprocity, Compensation
by David Alm
I argue that it is not possible to give an adequate account, within a Scanlon-style contractualist moral theory of the moral duties to reciprocate...
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March, 2008
Hume's Internalism Reconsidered
by Dale Dorsey
A standard reading of Hume on the nature of practical reasons holds that he is a normative internalist; that, for Hume, legitimate practical reasons...
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August, 2008
Moral Principles Are Not Moral Laws
by Luke Robinson
What are moral principles? The assumption underlying much
of the generalism–particularism debate in ethics is that they are (or
would be) moral...
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November, 2008
Volume III
Issue 1
Caring and the Boundary-Driven Structure of Practical Deliberation
by Jeffrey Seidman
When a reasonable agent deliberates about what to do, she entertains only a limited range of possible courses of action. A theory of practical...
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November, 2008
Saving People and Flipping Coins
by Ben Bradley
Suppose you find yourself in a situation in which you can either save both A and B or save only C. A, B and C are relevantly similar – all are...
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March, 2009
Three Millian Ways to Resolve Open Questions
by Andrew Cullison
Millianism is a thesis in philosophy of language that the meaning of a proper name is simply its referent. Millianism faces certain puzzles called...
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April, 2009
Volume III
Issue 2
Moorean Arguments and Moral Revisionism
by Tristram McPherson
G. E. Moore famously argued against skepticism and idealism by appealing to their inconsistency with alleged certainties, like the existence of his...
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June, 2009
In Defense of the Primacy of Virtues
by Jason Kawall
In this paper I respond to a set of basic objections often raised against those virtue theories in ethics which maintain that moral properties such...
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August, 2009
Implanted Desires, Self-Formation, and Blame
by Matthew Talbert
Some theories of moral responsibility assert that whether a person is accountable for her behavior depends partly on facts about her personal...
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August, 2009
Volume III
Issue 3
Preferentism and the Paradox of Desire
by Bradford Skow
The basic idea behind actualist preferentism is that getting what one wants makes one's life go better. A recent objection to preferentism is the...
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September, 2009
A danger of definition: Polar predicates in moral theory
by Mark Alfano
In this paper, I use an example from the history of philosophy to show how independently defining each side of a pair of contrary predicates is apt...
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September, 2009
What Is Wrong with Kamm's and Scanlon's Arguments Against Taurek
by Tyler Doggett
Abstract: In forced choices between lives, where one group is larger than the other, Taurek claims you can save the few. Kamm and Scanlon argue that...
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October, 2009
Volume IV
Issue 1
Beyond History: The Ongoing Aspects of Autonomy
by Steven Weimer
Historical accounts of autonomy hold that the autonomy of pro-attitudes depends, at least in part, on the way in which they came about. ...
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November, 2009
Rossian Minimalism
by Ned Markosian
The main question addressed in this paper is: What is the most promising ethical theory (specifying necessary and sufficient conditions for any...
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December, 2009
Moral Intuitions, Reliability, and Disagreement
by David Killoren
There is an ancient, yet still lively, debate in moral epistemology about the epistemic significance of disagreement. One of the important questions...
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January, 2010
Volume IV
Issue 2
What Knowledge is Necessary for Virtue?
by Olivia Bailey
Critics contend that Aristotelianism demands too much of the virtuous person in the way of knowledge to be credible. This general charge is usually...
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February, 2010
When Will Your Consequentialist Friend Abandon You for the Greater Good?
by Scott Woodcock
According to a well-known objection to consequentialism, the answer to the preceding question is alarmingly straightforward: your consequentialist...
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February, 2010
