Ethical Theory Review

Should we blame AI computer systems when they cause harm or unjust outcomes? Does it depend on whether AIs have free will or exhibit morally responsible agency -- whatever it is that makes adults like you and me blame-worthy in ways that babies or animals are not? In ⁠"The Point of Blaming AI Systems⁠" Altehenger and Menges give a case for blaming AI regardless of whether AIs are blameworthy. I discuss their argument and counter-arguments with Pamela Hieronymi (UCLA)

Discussion of fanaticism, devotion, and nihilism with⁠ Paul Katsafanas⁠ of Boston University. When someone becomes a fanatic about their worldview is that always a bad thing? Should fanatics moderate themselves to become better and more civil? Or is fanaticism sometimes a good thing, as Heather Battaly argues in "Can Fanaticism be a Liberatory Virtue?"

Do you have a moral obligation to go Vegan? If so, why? If not, why not? Brad and Tristram McPherson (Ohio State) discuss a new argument that we are obligated to go Vegan in order to avoid wrongful free-riding. Additional discussion of other arguments and future directions in debates about the ethics of eating meat.

Are our emotional reactions natural or malleable? Which moral emotions are useful in our increasingly secular and multi-cultural environment? What kinds of anger should we give up?  Does shame get a bad wrap?  -- Interview with Owen Flanagan about his book How to Do Things with Emotions

What different views on human nature inform ethical theory in the Confucian tradition?  What kinds of rituals do Confucians think we need to engage in to achieve flourishing lives or high levels of well-being?  What kinds of rituals today might be inhibiting our flourishing and moral growth?  -- a Discussion with Richard Kim about his book Confucianism and the Philosophy of Well-being.

If you conceive a child with a donated egg or sperm (gamete), are you morally required to tell the child how they were conceived?  Do children need knowledge of their genetic parents to develop a healthy self-understanding or identity?  Or is the desire for such genetic knowledge a reflection of morally suspect cultural norms? Interview with Daniel Groll about his new book Conceiving People (OUP, 2021).

What is Cornel West's Prophetic Pragmatism? How can we be honest about the legacy of racism in the USA and not lose hope? What role can and should philosophers play in promoting progress and democratic values?  Interview with Brad Elliott Stone and Jacob Goodson about their book Introducing Prophetic Pragmatism.

For whom do we grieve?  When we grieve, what are we grieving about? Is there any benefit we should aim to get from grieving? Is grieving sometimes morally required? And what additional questions about grief are philosophers exploring?  -- Interview with Michael Cholbi about these questions and his new book Grief: A Philosophic Guide 

Would the discovery that determinism is true undermine moral responsibility?  Should it?  In this episode I interview Pamela Hieronymi about her new book Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals, which offers a new interpretation of P.F. Strawson's influential argument that the discovery of determinism would and should not threaten our practices of moral responsibility. 

Humanists argue that there is something special about human beings and that to live well we must grow up, overcome our childish and brutish temptations, and become fully human.  Secular Enlightenment humanists think this is something human beings can and should try to pull off on their own – through personal and collective human efforts.  Religious Humanists raise worries about this secular program and emphasize the need for humility and divine agency or assistance. I interview Jennifer Herdt (Yale Divinity School) about her new book, Forming Humanity, which explores what we can learn from German Enlightenment intellectuals and their debates about these issues.