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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Modelling The Moral Dimension Of Decisions, Mark Colyvan, Damian Cox, Katie Steele
Modelling The Moral Dimension Of Decisions, Mark Colyvan, Damian Cox, Katie Steele
Damian Cox
In this paper we explore the connections between ethics and decision theory. In particular, we consider the question of whether decision theory carries with it a bias towards consequentialist ethical theories. We argue that there are plausible versions of the other ethical theories that can be accommodated by "standard" decision theory, but there are also variations of these ethical theories that are less easily accommodated. So while "standard" decision theory is not exclusively consequentialist, it is not necessarily ethically neutral. Moreover, even if our decision-theoretic models get the right answers vis-à-vis morally correct action, the question remains as to whether …
Believing Badly, Damian Cox, Michael Levine
Believing Badly, Damian Cox, Michael Levine
Damian Cox
This paper explores the grounds upon which moral judgment of a person’s beliefs is properly made. The beliefs in question are non-moral beliefs and the objects of moral judgment are individual instances of believing. We argue that instances of believing may be morally wrong on any of three distinct grounds: (i) by constituting a moral hazard, (ii) by being the result of immoral inquiry, or (iii) by arising from vicious inner processes of belief formation. On this way of articulating the basis of moral judgment of belief it becomes clear that rational and epistemic norms do not exhaust the kinds …
Should We Strive For Integrity?, Damian Cox, Marguerite La Caze, Michael Levine
Should We Strive For Integrity?, Damian Cox, Marguerite La Caze, Michael Levine
Damian Cox
Even by people whose moral views diverge widely, integrity is commonly thought of as something worthwhile, a valuable personal characteristic. It is, consequently, something we commonly suppose worth striving to cultivate both in ourselves and in those under our care. Nancy Schauber (1996) offers a provocative challenge to this conventional wisdom - arguing (in all seriousness) that integrity is either something we possess simply in virtue of being persons or else it is not something worth having. An analysis of her truncated accounts of integrity and commitment will show why her argument fails. That is does fail is a victory …
Metaphysical Realism And Idealisation, Damian Cox
Metaphysical Realism And Idealisation, Damian Cox
Damian Cox
In this paper I propose a version of metaphysical realism which I believe to be resistent to a number of antirealist attacks - in particular the attacks of Hilary Putnam. In the first part of the paper I outline the position and describe a number of responses to obvious objections. In the second part I demonstrate how this version avoids the charges of incoherence laid against the realist by Putnam.
The Trouble With Truthmakers, Damian Cox
The Trouble With Truthmakers, Damian Cox
Damian Cox
This paper argues that theories of truth which seek to specify the ontological ground of true statements by appealing to an ontology of truth-makers face a severe and possibly insurmountable obstacle in the form of logically complex statements. I argue that there is no apparent way to develop an account of logically complex truth within the confines of a modest and plausible ontology of truth-makers and to this end criticize independent attempts by Armstrong and Pendlebury to develop such an account.