Congratulations to Professors Terry Horgan and Mark Timmons, Department of Philosophy, University of Arizona, who are recipients of a John Templeton Foundation Grant in the amount of $230,386 to support their book project “Illuminating Reasons: An Essay in Moral Phenomenology.”
Their book will address questions about the roles of reasons and principles in moral experience. Emphasis throughout will be on moral phenomenology, that is, the experiential aspects of one’s moral life. Horgan and Timmons argue for a view they call “chromatic rationalism,” according to which moral judgments typically have a conscious experiential character that is “colored” by tacit appreciation of reasons—often in a way that includes appropriate emotional responses. They argue that phenomenological inquiry reveals that reasons play multiple, distinct roles in shaping one’s moral experiences, roles that are particularly evident in such experiences as performing supererogatory actions and acts of gratitude. They also bring their phenomenologically based approach to bear on questions about moral objectivity and the role of emotions in a life of wisdom and virtue. The grant will support the book project and a conference to be held in October 2014 that will feature eight speakers from the fields of philosophy and psychology who will discuss topics in and related to the book. The conference will be streamed live, allowing remote viewers to submit questions to speakers.