I am a member of
the philosophy department at the University of British Columbia. You may contact
me by phone at 604-822-4769, or email by sending a message to my first name at
the name of this domain.
Philosophical interests
I am interested in a wide range of topics associated generally with
ethics, political philosophy, social theory, sex/gender/feminism.
I am particularly interested in the ways that social practices, historical
development, and human development (though a roughly Aristotelian lens)
contribute to ethics and politics. Much of my work investigates certain
key concepts in ethical thinking (such as coercion, guilt, privacy, consent,
responsibility), and how thinking about such concepts relates to other concepts
and the practices in which such concepts play a functional role. Another
principal strand in my work is the way theories involving these concepts
interact with "the real world," and in
particular how such theories affect and are affected by gender relations in
contemporary western society. My "side projects" include some
research on the nature of action (and "moral psychology" more
generally), economics and the place of debt and contracts in society, and a
more systematic text in ethical theory (on the far back burner).
My approach to these matters is roughly "neo-Aristotelian," and takes
a good deal of inspiration from the work of recent philosophers such as G.E.M. Anscombe, Bernard Williams, Michael Thompson, and my
teachers at the University of Chicago, Candace Vogler
and Martha Nussbaum.
Current research agenda, opportunities for graduate assistants
From 2012-2016, I will be conducting research with funding from the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada on "The
Regulation of Coercion." This project is interdisciplinary, and
looks at how coercion operates in several domains, including law,
gender-relations, and the stored information in networked databases. This
project will lead to a major collaborative workshop, currently scheduled for
2015. This project will also provide opportunities for graduate student
research assistance, with the expectation that such graduate assistants will
develop their own expertise in this area, and be able to publish work in
collaboration with this project.
CV
A relatively up-to-date CV is available here.
Papers in Print, online, or forthcoming
“Objectification: A
21st Century Reassessment,” in Thom Brooks, ed., Current Controversies in Political Philosophy (Routledge), pp.
100-116. (In press, publication expected Summer 2015).
“Reply to Moen,” Journal of Medical Ethics 40 (2014):
82-83; published online first September, 2012, at doi:10.1136/medethics-2012-100649.
“Guilt,”
entry in International Encyclopedia of
Ethics. Ed.Hugh
LaFollette, (Blackwell, 2013), pp. 847-850.
“Coercive Wage
Offers,” entry in International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Ed.Hugh
LaFollette, (Blackwell, 2013), pp. 2255-2262.
“On the Immorality of Threatening,” Ratio (new series), Vol. 24 (3) (September, 2011): 229-242.
“On Sexual Obligation and Sexual Autonomy,” Hypatia 28 (2013): 122-141; online publication March 8, 2012: DOI: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2012.01274.x
“The Enforcement Approach to Coercion,” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 5(1) (2010): 1-31; available at www.jesp.org/articles/download.php?id=50
“Of Theories of Coercion, Two Axes, and the Importance of the Coercer,” The Journal of Moral Philosophy 5, no. 3 (Autumn, 2008): 394-422.
“Rationalizing Indirect Guilt,” Vermont Law Review 33, no. 3 (2009): 519-550. (Special issue on law and the emotions guest edited by Susan Bandes (DePaul Law).
“How Did There Come to be Two Kinds of Coercion?” Chapter in Coercion and the State. David Reidy and Walter Riker, eds. (New York: Kluwer/Springer, 2008), pp. 17-30.
“Privacy without the Right to Privacy,” The Monist 91, no. 1 (January, 2008): 81-107.
“Coercion.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), 22,408 words (MS 38 pages, single spaced). (Feb. 2006; substantive revision, Oct. 2011)
“Sex under Pressure: Jerks, Boorish Behavior, and Gender Hierarchy,” Res Publica: A Journal of Legal and Social Philosophy 11, no. 4 (December, 2005): 349-369.
“Prostitution and Sexual Autonomy: Making Sense of the Prohibition of Prostitution,” Ethics 112, no. 4 (July, 2002): 748 - 780; reprinted in Spector, Jessica (ed.), Prostitution and Pornography: Philosophical Debate About the Sex Industry in the U.S. Stanford University Press. Palo Alto, CA. 2006.
Book Reviews
"Review
of Alan Wertheimer, Consent to Sexual Relations." Ethics 115.1
(Oct. 2004). pp. 178 – 183.
"Review of Sabina Alkire, Valuing Freedoms:
Sen's Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction." Ethics 113.3
(Apr. 2003). pp. 678 - 680.
Courses
I teach:
Ethics,
including ethical theory, and applied ethics
Social and political philosophy
Sex, Gender and Philosophy
Power and Oppression
I have also taught graduate seminars on coercion, action theory
Philosophical Resources
Philosophical
Gourmet
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Journal ranks
Blogs
I read a lot of blogs, some every day, others very occasionally. I think
the weblog is something of a revolutionary force in modern culture and
intellectual life. Here are some I commend:
Philosophical/Theoretical:
PEASoup (http://peasoup.typepad.com/)
Public Reason (publicreason.net)
New Apps (http://www.newappsblog.com)
Digressions and Impressions (Eric Schliesser’s
personal blog; http://digressionsnimpressions.typepad.com/)
Feminist Philosophers (http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/)
What is it like to be a woman in philosophy?
(http://beingawomaninphilosophy.wordpress.com/)
Crooked Timber (crookedtimber.org)
Bleeding Heart Libertarians (http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/)
Leiter Reports (http://leiterreports.typepad.com/)
DailyNous.com (a regularly updated site for news of the profession)
Balkinization (balkin.blogspot.com)
And among other philosophical blogs I appreciate, if not read frequently, there
are:
Three
Quarks Daily (www.3quarksdaily.com)
FauxPhilNews (fauxphilnews.wordpress.com/)
Political:
This
list changes as the world changes, and as people come and go. I do not
necessarily endorse the content of all of these blogs, but I find them all
interesting in many ways.
Most news-y:
www.talkingpointsmemo.com (The
new way of covering political news. Josh Micah Marshall started this right
after the Clinton-Lewinski scandal, and has created something of a model for future
investigative journalism by writer and reader in collaboration.)
To understand what's happening with democratic activism/politics:
dailykos.com (This
is sort of the central meeting point for online left-wing activism, and the
biggest of the "group blogs" on the left, by a wide margin. For about
4 or 5 years, this has been the future ahead of time.)
Political commentary, news:
www.eschatonblog.com (Duncan
Black, aka "Atrios", is an econ PhD who now
writes a good deal of media commentary, but also gives the sort of "what's
worth thinking about today" kind of quick hits that tell me what news is
likely to interest me. Also quite an ascerbic
wit. The main problem with recommending this blog is that it has a lot
of clique-y insider language that will likely be offputting
until one can tell what the riffs and inside jokes are about. But very smart and useful, especially since an awful lot of people
turn here every day for the same thing.)
digbysblog.blogspot.com (Incredibly
smart writing here from "Digby"; her two regular guest bloggers
"Tristero" and "DDay"
are also quite interesting.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/
(constitutional lawyer and gadfly Glenn Greenwald, with others, initiated this
site for independent journalism)
www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/ (Mostly
written by Charlie
Pierce, a very funny man, besides being good commentary.)
washingtonmonthly.com
www.harpers.org/subjects/NoComment (exceptionally
literate and thoughtful commentary on news by an adjunct law prof at Columbia,
Scott Horton.)
americablog.com (Has
good political commentary, especially on sexual/gay politics.)
www.balloon-juice.org
www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum (Very
sensible man, more centrist
than some; originator of "Friday Cat Blogging.")
Other "news-y" sites I don't check quite so often:
www.huffingtonpost.com
www.salon.com
Specialists' sites:
juancole.com (Middle-east
historian, has easily the most insightful coverage of mid-east stuff in Iraq
and Iran easily available on the net.)
www.thenation.com/blogs/altercation (Eric Alterman,
media critic, mostly)
Economics blogs
nakedcapitalism.com
calculatedriskblog.com (Former
tech-insider, covers the current financial collapse very insightfully. His sadly
deceased co-blogger, "Tanta", provided some of the most useful inside
information on the mortgage industry meltdown, well before anyone saw that this
was going to happen. Read her posts today; she's still way ahead of most people
on this, and quite funny to boot. See the "in memoriam" page there
for key
links, especially to her posts called "The Compleat Ubernerd".)
krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/ (Paul Krugman blogs here.)
ritholtz.com (Barry Ritholtz gives good econ commentary.)
Tech
blogs
slashdot.org (Tech news clearinghouse.)
arstechnica.com
krebsonsecurity.com
Law
blogs
balkin.blogspot.com (Group legal blog organized by Law Prof Jack Balkin.)
Cultural:
openculturedaily.com
lettersofnote.com