I started philosophy being interested in metaphysics and pursued my graduate studies with questions of ontology primarily in mind. When it came to writing a dissertation, focus was required, and I decided to use the ontological status of moral properties as a case study in metaphysics. Acknowledging that studying metaethics (the metaphysics of ethics) demands far more than just a little familiarity with moral philosophy, I did my best to become an expert. After studying moral philosophy for a while, it became clear that working on moral problems has a value in its own right, independent of its value for learning metaphysics; this change in attitude accelerated as I became more familiar with the moral philosophy of the Ancient Greeks. Thus, I have learned to see the progression of my own academic interests as a mini-lesson in developmental practical rationality: I began studying ethics for purely instrumental reasons, but I then learned of its intrinsic value and now happily pursue it for its own sake.
MONOGRAPH:
Moral Reality, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. (Paperback, 2004).
Please see OUP's website or see the complete text of "Chapter One: Moral Metaphysics" here.
EDITED VOLUME:
Morality and Self Interest, Oxford University Press, New York, 2007.
Please see OUP's website for more information on this title.
"The Harm of Immorality", Ratio, Vol. XXI, no. 3 (September 2008).
"Disagreement About Disagreement", in The Biology and Psychology of Morality, W. Sinnott-Armstrong (ed.), Cambridge, MIT Press, 2007.
"Why It Is Bad To Be Bad", in Morality and Self Interest, P. Bloomfield (ed.), New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
"Review of Richard Joyce's The Evolution of Morality", Mind, vol. 116, no. 461 (2007): 176-80.
"Two Dogmas of Metaethics", Philosophical Studies, vol. 132, p. 439-466, 2007.
"Opening Questions, Following Rules", in Metaethics after Moore, T. Horgan and M. Timmons (eds.), New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
"Let's Be Realistic About Serious Metaphysics", Synthese vol. 144, p. 69-90, 2005.
"Is There Moral High Ground?", Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. XLI, no. 4 p. 511-26, 2003.
"The Rules of 'Goodness': An Essay in Moral Semantics", American Philosophical Quarterly vol. 40, no. 3, p. 197-213, 2003.
"A Partially Re-Humanized Ethics: Comments on Butchvarov", Supplemental Edition of Southern Journal of Philosophy, Spindel Conference Proceedings, Vol. XLI, p. 184-9, 2003.
"Truth Or Power?", in The Foundations of Ethics: Objectivity and Normativity, P. Schaber and R. Huntelmann (eds.), German Library of Sciences, Frankfurt Germany, p. 123-43,
2003.
For a 500 word essay entitled "Why Major in Philosophy?" click here.
"Archimedean Points and Why Metaethics Matters", Metaethics Workshop, Madison Wisconsin, September 2007.
"Justice as a Self-Regarding Virtue", American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meeting, April 2007.
"The Harm of Immorality", University of British Columbia, January 2006.
"Why It Is Bad To Be Bad", Invited paper, Bowling Green State University, April 2005.
"Why It Is Bad To Be Bad", Invited paper, University of Miami, March 2005.
Comments on Symposium: Value Realism. "A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories of Value" by Sharon A. Street, American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meeting, March 2005.
"Responses to My Critics", Author Meets Critic Session on Moral Reality, American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meeting, Pasadena, March 2004.
"Opening Questions and Following Rules", 31st Annual Conference on Value Inquiry, University of North Dakota, April 2003.
Invited participation in the 2002 Spindel Conference on "The Legacy of G.E. Moore: 100 Years of Metaethics". Comments on "Ethics Dehumanized" by Panayot Butchvarov, October, 2002.
Invited speaker for the I Frankfurt Days on Philosophy: "The Foundations of Ethics: Objectivity and Normativity" Frankfurt, Germany, August 2002.
"Is Normative Discourse Assertoric?", American Philosophical Association, Central Division Meeting, March 2002.
"Irrealism and Relativism", Invited participation for the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Nashville, February 2002.
"Is there Moral High Ground", Invited paper, Connecticut College, February 2002.
"Two Dogmas of Metaethics", Invited paper, University of Cincinnati, October 2001.
"Let's Be Realistic about Serious Metaphysics", II Barcelona Workshop on Reference, Barcelona Spain, June 2001.
"Why Even Physics Doesn't Reduce to Physics", Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, New Orleans, April 2001.
"Intuitions and the Limits of Analysis", Bled Philosophy Conference, Bled, Slovenia, June 2000.
"Being Realistic About Kantian Internalism", Mid-South Philosophy Conference, Memphis, February 2000.
"Moral Internalism Meets Moral Realism" University of Connecticut Colloquium Series, Storrs, December, 1999.
"A Modest Transcendental Argument for Moral Realism" Mid-South Philosophy Conference, Memphis, March 1999.
Oxford University Press
Basil Blackwell Publishers
Australasian Journal of Philosophy
American Philosophical Quarterly
Canadian Journal of Philosophy
Inquiry
Philosophical Papers
Philosophical Quarterly
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly
Synthese