Kamm’s (mis)interpretation of Scanlon’s basic aggregation argument (x-posted at TEM)

I was very interested in getting F.M.M. Kamm’s new book Intricate Ethics because the second chapter in devoted to the aggregation literature I have been dealing with the last few weeks (on a somewhat tangential note, Ethics Etc. is doing a reading group on this book this summer.) On the whole, Kamm’s discussion is interesting. [...]

Contractualism and Basic Aggregation: Part two, some solutions (X-posted at TEM)

What follows is the second part of the post that I started here. Also, parts of this post were copied from a paper I am working tentatively entitled “Contractualism, Basic Aggregation, and Varied Ills Aggregation: A Defense.”
0. We will once again start with contractualist principles (slightly revised from last time):
CW: an act, α, [...]

Henderson to Nebraska (X-posted at TEM)

I am happy to (re)announce that David Henderson has accepted the Robert R. Chambers Distinguished Professorship of Philosophy and the Moral Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He takes up the second half the chair. The first half is occupied by my new boss David Sobel.(Leiter’s announcement)

New group blog

I, along with some of my philosophy friends, have started a group blog dedicated to our research. It will cover all branches of analytic philosophy. It is called The Excluded Middle. Check it out.

Once more on “The Negative Reason Existential Fallacy”

Shyam’s comments on my previous post got me thinking about the structural differences between the * argument and the † argument with respect to cases like the leveling down case. Remember, the * argument is structured like this:
(P1*) It follows from view V that there is a reason [for X] to do A.
(P2*) But obviously [...]

Contractualism and Basic Aggregation: Part One, an overview of the debate (Cross-Listed at “The Excluded Middle”)

0. Let’s start by making some contractualist definitions explicit.
First, an act is wrong on contractualism if an agent can reasonably reject the inclusion of a principle allowing that act to a set of action guiding moral principles.
Second, an agent x has grounds for a reasonable rejection of a principle α if and only if α [...]

A brief comment on Schroeder’s “The Negative Reason Existential Fallacy”

A few days ago I read Mark Schroeder’s short piece “The Negative Reason Existential Fallacy.” In it, Schroeder attacks the following type of argument (found on page 1):
(P1*) It follows from view V that there is a reason [for X] to do A.
(P2*) But obviously there is no reason [for X] to do A.
(C*) So [...]

OPC2…

…is now under way. The first week has just begun, and just like last year it is very exciting.

Future Research Interests

Richard posted about his future research interests a few months ago. His post got me thinking about what my main future research interests are. I will follow him by adding the disclaimers that this list is not exhaustive, that I am sure new projects will strike my fancy in the future, and that I am [...]

Absurdity

Unfortunately, my last batch of finals is turning out to be completely insane. First, I was blindsided today by my physics final. The professor provides sample exams for each exam. For the other three exams, a substantial amount of problems from the sample exam made their way on to the actual exam (the numbers were [...]