Things I’m working on

“title redacted” (under review)

I argue for a novel Deep Self view of moral responsiblity in which an agent acts freely and is morally responsible for what she does that renders her blameworthy for her wrong-doing only if she has a Deep Self for which she is responsible.

“title redacted” (under review)

I advance a sufficiency claim and a distinct necessity claim regarding what it is for one to be responsible for one’s Deep Self.

“title redacted” (under review)

I offer a hierarchical model of personal policy for aspiration that is crucial to responsibility, in which a personal policy is a higher order intention that governs one’s motivation and helps fulfill one’s valuings.

“title redacted” (under review)

I argue for a special kind of valuing, which I call thick valuing, that constitutes and expresses what we are as practical agents, whether the thickly valued is an ice cream sandwich, or free software movement.

“The Life of Tony Soprano: Convicted, Conflicted, Compartmentalized”

I address the problem of compartmentalization that arises in both virtue ethical theories and moral responsibility theories.

“Saving the Hierarchical Model: Explaining the Case of the Unwilling Addict”

I argue that a hierarchical model of personal policy can help explain free actions and omissions in ways that provide them rational justification.

“On the Initial Origin of Responsibility for the Deep Self”

I’m laying groundwork for a paper that directly addresses the problem with regress in relation to the paradox of self-creation.

“Being Authentic and Finding Ren in Your Self” (with Yili Zhou)

Here is my dissertation abstract

I defend a novel Deep Self view of moral responsibility in which an agent’s Deep Self plays an essential role. I argue that an agent acts freely and is morally responsible for what she does in the accountability sense only if she has a Deep Self for which she is responsible. To be responsible for her Deep Self, she must have a history where she was afforded the unimpeded opportunity to develop and exercise the ability to form her own self. This is consistent with her failing to exercise that ability whenever she acts freely. Familiar Deep Self views in the literature say something much stronger. They contend that an agent acts freely and responsibly for what she does if and only if her actions or omissions issue from, and so express, her Deep Self. By offering a necessary condition for accountability drawing upon resources from responsibility for the Deep Self, my view escapes the counterexamples that familiar views face, while retains the familiar core of deep self views. Indeed, an agent may be blameworthy for her wrongdoing without it issuing from, and so expressing, her deep self. And yet, I argue that she must have a deep self for which she is responsible to be blameworthy for her wrongdoing. This is achieved by paying closer attention to the historical dimension of the Deep Self than other Deep Self proponents have.