Suppose that S has the following imperfect duty: an imperfect duty to perform at least one of x, y, and z (where these are three distinct act-tokens). And assume that S does not have a perfect duty to perform x, nor a perfect duty to […] Read More
The Rutgers Institute for Law and Philosophy is pleased to announce that Margaret Little of Georgetown University will deliver its inaugural annual Lecture in Law and Ethics on Thursday, March 5th at 12:30pm, entitled "Intimate Assistance: Re-Thinking Abortion in Law and Morality." The Lecture is […] Read More
I'm watching a riveting movie. I have no desire to get up or do anything else. Good thing that because I'm on a transatlantic flight. Intuitively, I think I would be better off if I were watching that movie at home and could get up, […] Read More
As I noted in an earlier post, there are at least two competing rationales for constraints: the victim-focused rationale (VFR) and the agent-focused rationale (AFR). One worry that I have about VFR is that it seems to have a tough time accounting for the intuition […] Read More
Please consider the following three cases and then take the following poll: Case A (‘A’ for Abe): Abe poisons his son, Larry. The poison causes his son to develop prostate cancer at the age of 40 and die soon afterwards. Had Abe not poisoned Larry, […] Read More
Let A1-A6 stand for six distinct agents. Let V1-V6 stand for six distinct potential victims. Let T1-T6 stand for six distinct and successive times. And let C1 stand for some set of agent-centered constraints. Those who endorse agent-centered constraints accept the following: (1) It would […] Read More
Smith has exactly two doses of anesthetic, and Jones has zero doses of anesthetic. Tom is having an operation on Saturday, and unless Smith gives Tom a double-dose of anesthetic right before his operation, Tom will suffer terribly during his operation. Rick and Harry are […] Read More
Smith has exactly two doses of anesthetic. Tom is having an operation on Saturday, and unless Smith gives Tom a double-dose of anesthetic right before his operation, Tom will suffer terribly during his operation. Rick and Harry are each having an operation on Sunday, and […] Read More
I’ve been reading Krister Bykvist’s and Jonas Olson’s wonderful paper entitled ‘Expressivism and Moral Certitude’ (HERE). Krister and Jonas argue that ecumenical forms of expressivism are unable to give a reply to Michael Smith’s objection to non-ecumenical forms of expressivism according to which expressivists cannot […] Read More