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Howard-Snyder, Frances. Divine Freedom
2017, Topoi 36(4): 651-656.
Topics: Causation; Deities and their Attributes; Free Will
Keywords: divine freedom; incompatibilism
Traditions: Analytic; Religious; Sub-Saharan African
Languages: English

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Added by: Emily Paul
Abstract: In 'Divine Freedom,' I argue that morally significant incompatibilist freedom is a great good. So God possesses morally incompatibilist freedom. So, God can do wrong or at least can do worse than the best action He can do. So, God is not essentially morally perfect. After careful consideration of numerous objections, I conclude that this argument is undefeated.
Comment: Useful for a unit on divine freedom with an intermediate level Philosophy of Religion course - would suit as the primary reading for this, as it gives a great overview and is relatively short, and also presents the central arguments in the debate over divine freedom: the alleged tension between incompatibilist freedom, and the thought that God always chooses the best possible action. It could be good to spend a whole seminar discussing how this tension is created, why it's problematic, and whether it can be resolved.
Difficulty: Easy, Intermediate
Recommended use: Introductory, Overview

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Howard-Snyder, Frances. Rule Consequentialism is a Rubber Duck
1995, American Philosophical Quarterly 30 (3):271 - 278
Topics: Metaethics; Normative Ethics
Keywords: rule consequentialism
Traditions: Analytic; Sub-Saharan African
Languages: English

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Added by: Simon Fokt, Contributed by: Joe Slater
Abstract:

Rubber ducks, clothes horses, drug store cowboys, clay pigeons, stool pigeons, Bombay duck and hot dogs have something in common. They are not what their names suggest. Someone who didn't know English very well might think that a stool pigeon was a kind of pigeon or that Bombay duck was a kind of duck. But he would be wrong. Linguistic evidence of this sort is not a reliable guide to the nature of reality. I shall argue that the same is true of rule consequentialism.

Comment: Useful for giving to students who might ask whether rule consequentialism is *really* consequentialism.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Recommended use: Specialised

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Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer. Empathy, Polyandry, and the Myth of the Coy Female
1986, In Feminist Approaches to Science, Ruth Bleier, (ed.), New York: Pergamon.
Topics: Anthropology; Gender Sex and Sexuality
Keywords: background assumptions; feminism; primatology
Traditions: Critical; Experimental; North American
Languages: English

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Added by: Benny Goldberg
Introduction: For over three decades, a handful of partially true assumptions were permitted to shape the construction of general evolutionary theories about sexual selection. These theories of sexual selection presupposed the existence of a highly discriminating, exually 'coy' female who was courted by sexually undiscriminating males. Work by female primatologists undermined these assumptions.
Comment: This is an essential paper for any courses in standpoint epistemology, feminist philosophy of science, or general philosophy of science.
Difficulty: Easy
Recommended use: Introductory

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Hsi K'ang. Music Has Neither Grief Nor Joy
1983, In Philosophy and Argumentation in Third-Century China. Princeton: Princeton University Press
Topics: Aesthetic Experience and Judgement; Aesthetic Normativity and Value; Metaphysics of Aesthetics
Keywords: Daoism; Emotions; music
Traditions: Cultural; East Asian; Historical; Religious
Languages: Classical Chinese; English

Figures: Laozi

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Added by: Meilin Chinn
Summary: The controversial essay in which Xi Kang offered a distinct counterargument to the orthodox Confucian view that music contains and transfers emotions between musicians and listeners. Xi Kang crafts a series of arguments against the presence of emotions and images in music and contends that the widespread belief to the contrary leads to the misuse of music for political and moral agendas.
Comment: This text is best used in a course on aesthetics (especially philosophy of music) and/or Chinese philosophy. A basic understanding of Daoism is helpful.

Related reading:

  • Essay on Music. Ruan Ji. In Reed Andrew Criddle's "Rectifying Lasciviousness through Mystical Learning: An Exposition and Translation of Ruan Ji’s Essay on Music." Asian Music 38(2), 2007.
This text is best used in a course on aesthetics (especially philosophy of music) and/or Chinese philosophy. A basic understanding of Daoism is helpful.

Related reading:

  • Essay on Music. Ruan Ji. In Reed Andrew Criddle's "Rectifying Lasciviousness through Mystical Learning: An Exposition and Translation of Ruan Ji’s Essay on Music." Asian Music 38(2), 2007.
Difficulty: Advanced
Recommended use: Specialised

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Hsieh, Nien-he. The Obligations of Transnational Corporations: Rawlsian Justice and the Duty of Assistance
2004, Business ethics quarterly, 14 (4), pp. 643-661.
Topics: Justice; Law and Public Policy; Political Economy
Keywords: Rawls; developing economies; justice; obligation; transnational corporations
Traditions: Analytic; Southeast Asian
Languages: English

Figures: John Rawls

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Added by: Simon Fokt
Abstract: Building on John Rawls’s account of the Law of Peoples, this paper examines the grounds and scope of the obligations of transnational corporations that are owned by members of developed economies and operate in developing economies. The paper advances two broad claims. First, the paper argues that there are conditions under which TNCs have obligations to fulfill a limited duty of assistance toward those living in developing economies, even though the duty is normally understood to fall on the governments of developed economies. Second, by extending Rawls’s account to include a right to protection against arbitrary interference, the paper argues that TNCs can be said to have negative and positive obligations in the areas of human rights, labor standards, and environmental protection, as outlined in the U.N. Global Compact. More generally, the paper aims to further our understanding of the implications of Rawls’s account of justice.
Comment: This paper is particularly useful in teaching on international business ethics and as further reading on Rawls. It also offers interesting insights into wider issues related to duty of assistance and moral relativism.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Recommended use: Further

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Hsin-wen, Lee. Does the death penalty only deter ‘rational’ people?
2018, Delaware State News
Topics: Applied Ethics; Forms of Government; Political Authority and Legitimacy
Keywords: death penalty; punishment; rationality
Traditions: Analytic; Comparative/Intercultural; Cultural; East Asian; Geographical
Languages: English

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Added by: Clotilde Torregrossa, Contributed by: Hsin-Wen Lee
Abstract: I argue that the death penalty has only limited deterrent effect. It cannot deter three types of offenders: (1) those who do not fear death; (2) those who are not rational and cannot take into consideration the consequences of their actions; (3) those who are confident that they won't be caught. Thus, in order to deter potential murderers, we must consider new ways to deter these three types of offenders.
Comment: The article is written for for a general audience. It considers the deterrence argument in favor of the death penalty. It should be useful for GE courses that cover the topic of the death penalty.
Difficulty: Easy
Recommended use: Introductory

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Hsin-wen, Lee. Taking Deterrence Seriously: The Wide-Scope Deterrence Theory of Punishment
2017, Criminal Justice Ethics 36 (1):2-24.
Topics: Applied Ethics; Forms of Government; Political Authority and Legitimacy
Keywords: Confucius; crime; deep deterrence; deterrence; honor; punishment; self-respect; shallow deterrence; shame
Traditions: Analytic; Comparative/Intercultural; Cultural; East Asian
Languages: English

Figures: Confucius

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Added by: Clotilde Torregrossa, Contributed by: Hsin-Wen Lee
Abstract: A deterrence theory of punishment holds that the institution of criminal punishment is morally justified because it serves to deter crime. Because the fear of external sanction is an important incentive in crime deterrence, the deterrence theory is often associated with the idea of severe, disproportionate punishment. An objection to this theory holds that hope of escape renders even the severest punishment inapt and irrelevant.This article revisits the concept of deterrence and defend a more plausible deterrence theory of punishment - the wide-scope deterrence theory. The wide-scope theory holds that we must make the best use of all the deterrence tools available, including both external and internal sanctions. Drawing on insights from the early Confucian tradition, the article develops a deep deterrence theory, which holds that the most important deterrence tool involves internal, not external, sanction. It describes how internal sanctions deter potential offenses and why relevant policies need not conflict with liberalism's respect for neutrality.
Comment: This text can be used in courses such as Philosophy of Law and/or Social and Political Philosophy.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Recommended use: Introductory

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Huang, Pei-hua. Moral Enhancement, Self-Governance, and Resistance
2018, The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, 43(5):547-567
Topics: Gender Sex and Sexuality; Metaethics; Moral Psychology; Normative Ethics
Keywords: Confucianism; autonomy; feminism; moral agency; moral enhancement
Traditions: Analytic; Comparative/Intercultural; Cultural; East Asian
Languages: English

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Added by: Sara Peppe, Contributed by: Pei-hua Huang
Abstract:
John Harris recently argued that the moral bioenhancement proposed by Persson and Savulescu can damage moral agency by depriving recipients of their freedom to fall (freedom to make wrongful choices) and therefore should not be pursued. The link Harris makes between moral agency and the freedom to fall, however, implies that all forms of moral enhancement that aim to make the enhancement recipients less likely to “fall,” including moral education, are detrimental to moral agency. In this article, I present a new moral agency–based critique against the moral bioenhancement program envisaged by Persson and Savulescu. I argue that the irresistible influences exerted by the bioenhancement program harm our capabilities for conducting accurate self-reflection and forming decisions that truly express our will, subsequently undermining our moral agency.
Comment: This paper can be assigned as a further reading when teaching the moral enhancement debate. It provides students with a less explored perspective on moral agency in the debate (i.e. the feminist approach to autonomy and Confucianism). Students might find the discussion on the Confucian conception of moral saints in this paper especially interesting when contrasting the conception to the more western ones.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Recommended use: Further

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Humpherys, Rebekah. Contractarianism: On the Incoherence of the Exclusion of Non-Human Beings
2008, Percipi 2, 28-38
Topics: Applied Ethics; Life Sciences; Psychology Keywords: animal experimentation; farming; suffering
Traditions: Analytic; Critical; European Languages: English
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Added by: Björn Freter, Contributed by: Rebekah Humphreys

Abstract: Although the practices of animal experimentation and intensive rearing involve a considerable amount of animal suffering they continue to be supported. Why is the suffering of animals in these practices so often accepted? This paper will explore some of the reasons given in support of the use of animals for such practices. In particular I will focus on contractarianism as one of the many positions that argues that morally relevant differences between species justify animal experimentation and factory farming. These differences include rationality and moral agency. On this position non-humans are excluded from direct moral concern on the basis that they lack such qualities. I will argue that in order for contractarianism to be coherent it necessarily has to include non-humans in the contract. This has implications for the application of contractarianism to the ethics of factory farming and animal experimentation.

Comment: Critically discusses Rawls' theory of justice in relation to issues in animal ethics.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Recommended use: Further
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Humphreys. Dignity and its violation examined within the context of animal ethics
2016, Ethics and the Environment 21 (2):143-162
Topics: Applied Ethics; Life Sciences; Psychology Keywords: Interests; animals; circus animals; dignity
Traditions: Analytic; Critical; European Languages: English
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Added by: Björn Freter, Contributed by: Rebekah Humphreys

Abstract: The word ‘dignity’ may be used in a presentational sense, for example, one might say “she presents herself with dignity”, or in a social sense, for example, one might say “she fulfilled her duty with dignity, or honour.” However, in this paper I will not be using ‘dignity’ in either of these senses. Rather, the sense of dignity I will be concerned with is one that is related to ideas about the value or worth of a being. This latter sense of dignity has a long history, and tends to be a concept that is thought to be applicable to human animals only, and more specifically to human persons—moral agents, capable of rationality, of directing their own lives, and of formulating...

Comment: Critically analyses the concept of dignity and provide argumentation as to why the concept, contrary to traditional understandings, is applicable to animals and their lives.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Recommended use: Specialised
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