PEA Soup

Ethics at PEA Soup: Sarah Buss's "Autonomous Action: Self-Determination in the Passive Mode," with Commentary by Hilary Bok

We are pleased to present the latest installment of Ethics at PEA Soup, in which we host a discussion of one article from each issue of Ethics. The article selected from Volume 122, issue 4, is Sarah Buss's "Autonomous Action: Self-Determination in the Passive Mode."  Ethics has kindly provided free access to the article here.  We are also extremely grateful to Hilary Bok, who has agreed to provide the critical précis, which begins below the fold.

What Is Stupidity?

A truly honest question, in light of today's NY Times science article, "If Smart is the Norm, Stupidity Gets More Interesting."  Perhaps, as usual, scientists could use some conceptual help.  Just curious on your thoughts.  Here is one line of query: what is stupidity as opposed to mild mental retardation?  "Stupid" is, after all, still an acceptable predicate to toss around at both people and their actions.  On what basis?  What is it tracking if not an incapacity?  (Or perhaps it is targeting an incapacity, in which case how could there be warrant for what seems a responsibility predication?)

Ethics Discussions at PEA Soup: Sarah Buss's "Autonomous Action: Self-Determination in the Passive Mode," with Commentary by Hilary Bok

(Moving to the Front from Oct 10 and Sept 7, 2012)

Update Oct 19, 2012:  Professor Buss's paper can be accessed here.

Update Oct 10: Discussion will begin October 29th!  A link to Professor Buss's paper will be added shortly.

We are pleased to announce the next installment of Ethics at PEA Soup, which will feature Sarah Buss's article “Autonomous Action: Self-determination in the Passive Mode.”  We are also pleased that Hilary Bok has accepted our invitation to be our Lead Discussant.  Discussion should begin sometime in October, and we'll be sure to keep everyone posted when dates are more settled.

Weighing Reasons in Princeton - November 30 to December 1

The program for the Princeton conference on the topic of Weighing Reasons put together by Errol Lord and Barry Maguire has now been finalized.  The program is below the fold:

Tulane Ethics Fellowships (New Orleans, baby!)

Reminder:  Faculty Fellowships at the Murphy Institute’s Center for Ethics and Public Affairs for 2012-2013.  The Application deadline is November 15, 2012.
 

3AM Magazine Interviews Souper Tiberius

By way of Brian Leiter, an excellent interview with PEA Souper Valerie Tiberius!

John Martin Fischer...

is on-line at Flickers of Freedom as guest blogger for the week.  Check it out!

Schmucks and Philosopher Kings: A Dilemma for Well-Being Policy

It’s fashionable to call for supplementing traditional economic measures with measures targeting the impact of policies on well-being. Leaving aside worries about measuring well-being and implementing policies, a more basic question remains: should the state be in the business of monitoring and promoting people’s well-being in the first place? Call this the Question. I’m going to argue that there’s good reason to answer in the negative: either well-being policy is paternalistic towards the beneficiaries, or it imposes an undue burden on the benefactors. Insofar as we have positive duties toward each other, paternalism is the lesser evil.

A New Blog: The Venue Poll

Thanks to everyone who offered feedback on my new blog ideas. After considering the comments, I have decided to forge ahead with one of the projects: The Venue Poll. This will be a blog dedicated to helping Philosophers get feedback on the best potential venues for their work. The blog is now live, though publication of abstracts will be delayed a week or two to make time for ironing out any kinks and getting a stockpile of abstracts from people. If you are interested in submitting, commenting, offering further feedback on the blog's format, or just seeing what this is all about, please head over to:

http://thevenuepoll.blogspot.com

I hope others will be as excited about this project as I am.

Feedback on Two (Potential) New Blogs

I'm thinking of starting two new blogs. Rather than just jumping in and creating them, I thought I would turn to the folks here at PEA Soup to get some feedback. I am interested, first, in feedback on whether these blogs are good ideas. This includes both the question of whether there are independent reasons to (not) have such blogs as well as the question of whether people would actually read and/or contribute to these blogs (i.e., whether I would be wasting my time creating them). Assuming one or both of these blogs is a good idea, I'm also looking for more specific feedback concerning how they should be set up.