Papers in moral theory Evil Characters Explores the evaluation of character by examining the worst extremes. Discusses the aspects of character that matter for assessing evil characters and argues for an affective-motivational approach. Published in American Philosophical Quarterly, 36:2 (April 1999), pp. 131-148. Consistency of Character and the Character of Evil Extends the previous discussion by arguing that evil character involves a certain kind of consistency, roughly marked by (at least) a near-complete absence of moral concern or motivation. Published in Haybron, ed. Earth’s Abominations: Philosophical Studies of Evil. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002. Moral Monsters and Saints Argues that the notion of evil character is morally significant, with genuine theoretical interest. Also indicates limitations in other approaches to evil, and suggests that our intuitions about extremes of character are a problem for consequentialist ethics. Published in The Monist, 85:2 (2002), pp. 260-284. Papers in philosophy of psychology The Causal and Explanatory Role of Information Stored in Connectionist Networks Connectionist processing is less holistic than many think. Network behavior is explicable in terms of selected data stored therein, contra Ramsey, Stich and Garon’s argument for the incompatibility of connectionism with folk psychology. Minds and Machines, 10:3 (2000), pp. 361-380. |