My research focuses on a
cluster of related issues surrounding the nature, origin, and force of our
obligations to ourselves and others. Within this general domain, my current
work is on enlightened self-interest both within Western perspectives
(neo-Kantian ethical constructivism and philosophical psychology) and Eastern
traditions (Yogic philosophy and Buddhism). I argue that as people become
better acquainted with themselves and the world, that natural motivations for
caring about others often converge with philosophical arguments for governing
our relationships with respect, kindness, and love. I am also an artist, photographer, and yoga teacher. My original art is on the covers of a half dozen philosophy books.
AOS: Meta-ethics, East-West Comparative Ethics, and Business Ethics
|
Pictured is the cover and frontispiece (by Heather Salazar) |
Creating a Shared Morality: The Feasibility of Ethical Constructivism
This
book is devoted to discussing the potential of neo-Kantian ethical
constructivism. It in, I trace the history of constructivism and explain its
appeal as a compromise between the two primary theories of metaethics:
subjectivism and realism. I analyze the most developed and prominent version
of the theory, ‘Publicity as Shareability,’ advocated by Christine Korsgaard,
and explore the strengths and weaknesses of her arguments, the theory, and
its implications. I then develop my own version of neo-Kantian constructivism
which rejects several significant components within Korsgaard’s account.
Enlightenism is the result.
|
|
|
Mind
Over Matter:Philosophical Essays on
the Spiritual Dimension of Achievement
Mind Over Matter presents an innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous philosophical analysis of the value of the spiritual dimension of human achievement. Creative, scientific, artistic, scholastic, and athletic achievements provide some of the diverse disciplines of achievement analyzed. The editors seek original philosophical contributions that challenge assumptions that productivity is wholly explicable through physical traits and the assertion of effort and instead show how faith, self-confidence and achievement can be ameliorated through mental and spiritual devotion or practice.
|
|
https://press.rebus.community/intro-to-phil-of-mind/ |
Intro to
Philosophy of Mind Introduction to Philosophy of Mind surveys the central themes in philosophy of mind and places them in a historical and contemporary context intended to engage first-time readers in the field. It focuses on debates about the status and character of the mind and its seemingly subjective nature in an apparently more objective world. It is the first book of a 14-part series to make high quality open access textbooks available to readers.
|
|
Pictured, our book was highlighted on the cover and in the TOC in the Brill Philosophy Catalog for 2019. |
The Philosophy
of Spirituality: Analytic, Continental and
Multicultural Approaches to a New Field of Philosophy
Until recently, most philosophers in the analytic and continental Western traditions treated spirituality as a religious concept. Any non-religious spirituality tended to be neglected or dismissed as irremediably vague. Here, from various philosophical and cultural perspectives, it is addressed as a subject of independent interest. This is a philosophical response to increasing numbers of spiritual but not religious people inhabiting secular societies and the heightened interaction between a multitude of spiritual traditions in a globalized age. A provocative array of approaches (African, Indigenous, Indian, Stoic, and Sufic perspectives, as well as Western analytic and continental views) offer fresh insights, many articulated by emerging voices.
|
|
My original art is on the cover, which was also featured on the cover page of Brill’s 2019 philosophy catalog. https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Spirituality-Value-Inquiry-Religion |
“Is Yogic Enlightenment Dependent Upon God?” “Is Yogic Enlightenment Dependent Upon God?” is based on research was engaged in on the subject of yoga and philosophy since 2011, when my first chapter on philosophical yoga appeared in Bending Mind and Body (Wiley-Blackwell). This paper emphasizes Patanjali’s philosophical contributions to Yoga and includes extensive original research and arguments. In it, I argue that yoga practitioners can and should embrace atheistic forms of Yoga as long as these forms follow certain philosophical practices such as non-attachment and seek the ultimate Self as distinguished from the mind and body. My primary focus is whether and to what extent yogic philosophy depends upon a God or a higher power. I address the accusation that Western yoga is overly concerned with asana (postures), and examine what Patañjali, as well as contemporary yoga gurus such as Krishnamacharya, Iyengar, Jois, and Desikachar say about yoga’s connection to Isvara. A proper understanding of “non-religious” within the interpretation of traditional yoga is non-dogmatic (without particular conceptual commitments and presuppositions about the nature of God), rather than non-theistic. However, I show that the central philosophy and methods of yoga preclude it from excluding atheistic yogic enlightenment. Finally, I explore concerns that more atheistic and less overtly spiritual forms of yoga are not genuine paths to samadhi (enlightenment). I argue that yoga can maintain (and even increase) its integrity in adaptations to a largely Christian and atheistic West. The paths are various and still in development, but there are reasons to be hopeful that true, non-dogmatic yoga and samadhi will be accessible for a growing number of people in the West, regardless of their religious beliefs.
|
|
https://www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf/journal?openform&journal=pdc_jipr
|
“Descartes’ and Patañjali’s Conceptions of the
Self,”
In this paper, I present a unique application of semantic externalism, a contemporary theory in philosophy of language, as a way to bridge the gap in understanding and scope of Western and Eastern philosophy of mind. The paper was a work in progress for two years. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Patañjali, author of the Yoga Sutras (c. 400 CE), are both famous for articulating paradigmatic expressions of substance dualism, the view that the true self or mind is a fundamentally different kind of substance than the physical body. Typically, each is cited as the case study of dualism, for the Western tradition and for the Indian tradition respectively. This paper examines Desartes’ and Patañjali’s conceptions of the self, the methods for how to discover it, and what its purpose and limitations are. It explores to what extent these two conceptions of the self are reconcilable and in the process of doing so, tries to illustrate the way in which such comparative philosophy, across traditions, helps to illuminate each tradition.
|
|
https://www.amazon.com/Futurama-Philosophy-Pizza-Paradoxes-Good/dp/1500810258 |
“A Fate Worse than
Death?” in Futurama and Philosophy In “A Fate Worse than Death?” I examine whether and to what extent death can be bad. I do so within the context of the tv show Futurama for the Philosophy and Popular Culture Series’ new book Futurama and Philosophy, released to book stores in November 2013. Briefly my argument is this: Death is bad, but we can imagine worse. Some of those things we can imagine to be worse include those things that tear us apart from our most treasured sense of who we are. Reasons to maintain one’s cherished values and identity can trump reasons to preserve youth, health, closeness with one’s family, and even life itself.
|
|
|
“Self-Interest,” in The New Catholic EncyclopediaSeries on Ethics and Morality (Print Volume)Ed. by Robert Fastiggi. Gale Cengage Learning, 2013My essay on self-interest is now published in a four volume print series on philosophy and morality. In it, I examine how self-interest diverges from selfishness and show how self-interest is necessary to an understanding and application of moral theory. I enlist Ayn Rand as a contrast case to show that psychological egoism is false. I explore philosophical arguments against egoism based on Plato’s Republic. I explained that even David Hume (who thought that everyone should do what is rational (wherein rationality is based on a hypothetical imperative to do what one desires) argued that people are not solely motivated by self-advantage. On the other hand, Immanuel Kant argued that people must also be governed by the Categorical Imperative (a law of rationality which is superior to the hypothetical imperative) and that implies that we do what is right (wherein what is right is constituted by acting according to the Good Will, which implies that everyone treat all others as equally worthy). Utilitarianism, even more than the other theories, requires a great deal of self-sacrificial behavior. I explore some contemporary evolutionary views of self-interest such as Brian Skyrm’s game theoretical notion of a social contract which shows that individuals rely on “the thriving of the group” (Salazar 1392). Finally, I explain that current research on happiness indicates that there appears to be some overlap between individual happiness and the extent to which people are unselfish. |
COURSES TAUGHT
