Here are some papers I am working on. Please do contact me if you are interested in these topics and you'd like to discuss them or see a draft of my work.
Aesthetic Interaction in Interpersonal relations
Presentation at the 2021 Joint Session available here.
Abstract: It is common both in philosophy and in everyday life to suppose that a person’s beauty is something static and passive, to be observed, much as one might observe a painting. But the way in which people bear many of their aesthetic qualities to one another is such as to call for a personal, engaged response. In this paper I argue that recognising the role of aesthetic interaction in our social lives makes sense of something that otherwise seems problematic, namely the importance that we attach to people’s aesthetic qualities.
The peculiar allure of another's aesthetic worldview
Abstract: If, collectively, we withheld our attention from other people’s aesthetic qualities – supposing that were possible – we would mitigate the injustices brought about by stigma and prejudice in the domain of personal aesthetic judgement. But are there important reasons that speak in favour of doing the opposite, of paying each other aesthetic attention?
In this paper, I argue for one such reason. Namely, I hold that interest in another’s aesthetic worldview – which requires attention to their personal aesthetic qualities – has a distinctive and weighty value for many kinds of relationship. My argument proceeds by first establishing that a key part of the kind of intimacy that is valuable to many personal relationships is parties’ appreciation of core aspects of one another’s personalities. The question then becomes whether it is valuable for one’s aesthetic worldview to be such a core aspect. In response, I offer some plausible assumptions about the importance of an aesthetic worldview for creativity, and for autonomous agency more generally. In light of these considerations, it appears that both our aesthetic worldviews, and interpersonal interest in them, are deeply valuable to individual and social life.
Handout
Slides
Paper about aesthetics and reasons for love
This paper is about the similarity between the appreciation of a piece of art, such as a cherished music album, and the loving appreciation of a person whom one knows well. In philosophical discussion about the rationality of love, the Qualities View (QV) says that love can be justified by reference to the qualities of the beloved. I argue that the oft-rehearsed trading-up objection fails to undermine the QV. The problems typically identified by the objection arise from the idea that love-worthy qualities could be coarse-grained, when in fact they must be fine-grained. The analogy with appreciation of aesthetic qualities helps to draw out this point. Once the fine-grained nature of love-worthy qualities is properly understood, it is clear that critics of the QV cannot rely on the trading-up objection to motivate its rejection. Moreover, the paper’s core argument helps to illuminate the persistently aesthetic nature of interpersonal affections.
Paper on agapic love [title redacted while under review]
Abstract: Inthis essay, I will advance a view about the nature of agapic love. The claim I will defend is that agape is a kind of loving openness. Agape, I argue, is similar to personal love in that it is rational in form: it requires justification by reference to the love-worthiness of the other. But it is dissimilar from personal love in that this justification must come retroactively. I will animate a tension within the very idea of agapic love by first advancing an attractive view – drawing from Martin Buber – according to which agape requires disregarding individuating characteristics of the other (§1), and then by drawing from Simone Weil to advance an exactly contrary view (§2). Despite this tension, I will explore the deeper compatibility of the two views and argue that they can be construed as complimentary episodes that together comprise the stance of agapic love (§3).
Paper about second-person reasons [title redacted while under review]
Abstract: There is a tradition of thought, beginning with German Idealist philosophers Fichte and Feuerbach, passing through phenomenologists and existentialists such as Levinas, Buber, and Løpstrup and arriving at contemporary ethicists such as Thompson and Darwall. This tradition have all endeavoured to explain the practical significance of the second-person relation. That is, they have all offered accounts of how one's practical reasoning is altered by one's relation to another as an I to a you. What's more, the accounts that have been offered are all what I call structural accounts. They posit that the second-person relation affects the structure of practical reasoning. In this paper, I offer an alternative, substantive account. That is, I argue that entering into second-personal relations with others does indeed affect one's practical reasoning, but it does this not by altering the structure of one's agential thought, but by changing what reasons can become available. Second-person relations make possible the emergence of an wide variety of different kinds of practical reasons. Recognising this takes away the appeal of the traditional, structural accounts of the practical significance of such second-personal relations.
Aesthetic Interaction in Interpersonal relations
Presentation at the 2021 Joint Session available here.
Abstract: It is common both in philosophy and in everyday life to suppose that a person’s beauty is something static and passive, to be observed, much as one might observe a painting. But the way in which people bear many of their aesthetic qualities to one another is such as to call for a personal, engaged response. In this paper I argue that recognising the role of aesthetic interaction in our social lives makes sense of something that otherwise seems problematic, namely the importance that we attach to people’s aesthetic qualities.
The peculiar allure of another's aesthetic worldview
Abstract: If, collectively, we withheld our attention from other people’s aesthetic qualities – supposing that were possible – we would mitigate the injustices brought about by stigma and prejudice in the domain of personal aesthetic judgement. But are there important reasons that speak in favour of doing the opposite, of paying each other aesthetic attention?
In this paper, I argue for one such reason. Namely, I hold that interest in another’s aesthetic worldview – which requires attention to their personal aesthetic qualities – has a distinctive and weighty value for many kinds of relationship. My argument proceeds by first establishing that a key part of the kind of intimacy that is valuable to many personal relationships is parties’ appreciation of core aspects of one another’s personalities. The question then becomes whether it is valuable for one’s aesthetic worldview to be such a core aspect. In response, I offer some plausible assumptions about the importance of an aesthetic worldview for creativity, and for autonomous agency more generally. In light of these considerations, it appears that both our aesthetic worldviews, and interpersonal interest in them, are deeply valuable to individual and social life.
Handout
Slides
Paper about aesthetics and reasons for love
This paper is about the similarity between the appreciation of a piece of art, such as a cherished music album, and the loving appreciation of a person whom one knows well. In philosophical discussion about the rationality of love, the Qualities View (QV) says that love can be justified by reference to the qualities of the beloved. I argue that the oft-rehearsed trading-up objection fails to undermine the QV. The problems typically identified by the objection arise from the idea that love-worthy qualities could be coarse-grained, when in fact they must be fine-grained. The analogy with appreciation of aesthetic qualities helps to draw out this point. Once the fine-grained nature of love-worthy qualities is properly understood, it is clear that critics of the QV cannot rely on the trading-up objection to motivate its rejection. Moreover, the paper’s core argument helps to illuminate the persistently aesthetic nature of interpersonal affections.
Paper on agapic love [title redacted while under review]
Abstract: Inthis essay, I will advance a view about the nature of agapic love. The claim I will defend is that agape is a kind of loving openness. Agape, I argue, is similar to personal love in that it is rational in form: it requires justification by reference to the love-worthiness of the other. But it is dissimilar from personal love in that this justification must come retroactively. I will animate a tension within the very idea of agapic love by first advancing an attractive view – drawing from Martin Buber – according to which agape requires disregarding individuating characteristics of the other (§1), and then by drawing from Simone Weil to advance an exactly contrary view (§2). Despite this tension, I will explore the deeper compatibility of the two views and argue that they can be construed as complimentary episodes that together comprise the stance of agapic love (§3).
Paper about second-person reasons [title redacted while under review]
Abstract: There is a tradition of thought, beginning with German Idealist philosophers Fichte and Feuerbach, passing through phenomenologists and existentialists such as Levinas, Buber, and Løpstrup and arriving at contemporary ethicists such as Thompson and Darwall. This tradition have all endeavoured to explain the practical significance of the second-person relation. That is, they have all offered accounts of how one's practical reasoning is altered by one's relation to another as an I to a you. What's more, the accounts that have been offered are all what I call structural accounts. They posit that the second-person relation affects the structure of practical reasoning. In this paper, I offer an alternative, substantive account. That is, I argue that entering into second-personal relations with others does indeed affect one's practical reasoning, but it does this not by altering the structure of one's agential thought, but by changing what reasons can become available. Second-person relations make possible the emergence of an wide variety of different kinds of practical reasons. Recognising this takes away the appeal of the traditional, structural accounts of the practical significance of such second-personal relations.
