𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 & 𝘌𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs

In “Impartiality, Anonymity, and Caring Who,” Daniel Muñoz argues impartiality requires Anonymity, not the stronger, utilitarian-friendly principle of Outcome Anonymity (for which two outcomes with the same welfare distribution differing only in who is at which level are equally good).

#moralphil

The Unhappy Conclusion I argue that it is better to live an extremely long, drab life than a happy life of normal length. I rely on four premises, concerning (1) the separability of well-being in time, (2) the circumstances...

New article: Patrick McKee argues in “The Unhappy Conclusion“ that an extremely long, drab life is better than a happy life of normal length. Implications for the Millian lexical superiority view, population ethics, animal well-being, and artificial intelligence considered.

#moralphil

Should we be Lottocrats? In light of representative democracy’s failures, from an inability to effectively address pressing problems to the yawning economic inequality and deep polarization that it sustains, the need for refo...

Critical essay by Dmitri Landa and Ryan Pevnick about Alexander Guerrero’s recent 𝘓𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 (OUP 2024).

Every Day an Election Day Voting occurs on Election Day. In the history of electoral democracy, this fact has been closely identified with the practice of elections. However, I argue the temporality of election time generates ...

In “Every Day an Election Day,”
Kal Hailu Kalewold defends a new electoral system under which voters electronically register their votes daily with the results determined by summing up votes over the whole term of office.

#poliphil #PolTheory #polisky

Grief as a Duty of Practical Fidelity We often feel duty-bound to grieve our loved ones after their deaths. But how can we owe grief (or anything) to those who are no longer alive? We propose that the duty to grieve the deceased is part o...

“Grief as a Duty of Practical Fidelity”

Jordan MacKenzie & @thatwhichischolbi.bsky.social:

The duty to grieve the deceased is part of a wider duty of fidelity, which requires “factoring” loved ones into our practical identities and attending to radical changes in their identities.

#moralphil

Welcome 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤 to the fold!

Congratulations to Ryan Pevnick, whose article “The Representation-Enabling Approach to Campaign Finance Reform” has win the 2025 Rockwell Prize for the Best Article on Ethics, Leadership, and Public Policy.

#poliphil #polisky #PolTheory

In “Money as 𝘙𝘦𝘴 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢,” @aaronjames.bsky.social proposes a conception of money as “common credit.” Private banks‘ powers of lending (and hence money creation/allocation) must be held in trust and subject to regulations in the service of public purposes to be legitimate.

#poliphil #PolTheory

Representative Robots: Can AI Systems Act in Our Name? Using AI systems to make decisions in the place of humans promises greater efficiency, but some authors raise a number of ethical worries about this. The undermining of responsibility, the removal of ...

In “Representative Robots: Can AI Systems Act in Our Name?,” Isaac Taylor argues that in principle it is possible for AI systems to act in our name, as our representatives.

Why Riot? An Expressive Theory of the Justification of Rioting Political rioting is a durable feature of societies across time, space, and political structure. It is also highly morally contentious. Among those who take rioting to be justifiable, the dominant app...

In “Why Riot? An Expressive Theory of the Justification of Rioting,” Edmund Tweedy Flanigan argues that riots as a form of protest are subject to expressive norms that may license its characteristic harms.

#poliphil #PolTheory #moralphil

What Indirect Affirmative Action Can Do Affirmative action is under pressure in the United States. At the moment, affirmative action is both legally prohibited and politically ill advised. For an egalitarian, this is not good news. What to ...

In “What Indirect Affirmative Action Can Do,” @drbengtson.bsky.social argues that “indirect affirmative action” is often justified by considerations of equal opportunity and integration as well as strategic considerations.

#poliphil #moralphil #PolTheory

Preference and Prevention: A New Paradox of Deontology It’s commonly thought that we can reasonably oppose serious wrongdoing. For example, deontologist bystanders may prefer that an agent allows the killing of five rather than wrongly killing one as a me...

In “Preference and Prevention: A New Paradox of Deontology,” Richard Yetter Chappell argues that even those who accept, for themselves, deontic constraints against serious wrongdoing cannot, if they care enough about others, always want others do to so.

#moralphil

The Representation-Enabling Approach to Campaign Finance Reform There is broad disagreement about campaign finance reform, in part, because there is disagreement about the goals that should guide it. The most common approaches focus on the importance of preventing...

Ryan Pevnick, “The Representation-Enabling Approach to Campaign Finance Reform,” argues that campaign finance rules in rep democ should be guided by anti-corruption & equal opp for influence, but also effective accountability, electoral selection, & voter competence.

#poliphil #PolTheory #polisky

What is the Point of Solidarity? In response to activist movements like Black Lives Matter and global events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, philosophers have shown a renewed interest in the value and practice of solidarity. However, ...

In “What is the Point of Solidarity?,” Juri Viehoff argues that solidarity is the practice that uniquely brings our moral and personal reasons into greater harmony.
#poliphil #moralphil #PolTheory

Manipulation and Practical Agency Philosophers typically argue that manipulation is wrong because it impairs our practical reasoning. Recently, Sophie Gibert has challenged this view, proposing instead a reductive account of the wrong...

In “Manipulation and Practical Agency,” Massimo Renzo defends a novel formulation of the view that manipulation is wrong b/c it impairs practical reasoning, against accounts like Gibert’s which dispense with a distinctive non-moral feature upon which its wrongness supervenes.

#moralphil #philsky

Reparations, Recognition, and the Restoration of Relational Equality I argue for the relational egalitarian theory of reparations for historical injustice, which holds that 1) reparations are owed to persons who are public social inferiors in part because they are memb...

New article by Alexander Motchoulski, “Reparations, Recognition, and the Restoration of Relational Equality,” defending a relational-egalitarian theory of reparations for historical injustice.

#philsky #polisky #moralphil #PolTheory

F&E would also like to extend it thanks to Sophia Moreau for her eight years of service as an Associate Editor. While we will miss her in this capacity, we are very pleased that she will continue on our masthead as a member of the Editorial Board.

Thank you Sophia!

Johanna Thoma Visit the post for more.

Second, Johanna Thoma, Chair of Ethics at the Universität Bayreuth, will join us in September.

Johanna is a recipient of numerous awards testifying to the excellence of her work at the intersection of philosophy, economics, & public policy.

Welcome Johanna!

#philsky #moralphil

Sean Ingham Academic website with links to working papers and curriculum vitae.

F&E is extremely pleased to announce the addition of two new Associate Editors to our team.

First, Sean Ingham from UC-San Diego, a superb political theorist working at the intersection of democratic theory and formal political theory.

Welcome Sean!

#philsky #PolTheory #polisky #poliphil

<em>Free &amp; Equal </em>Announces Early Career Essay Prize Free &amp; Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs is pleased to announce a $2000 prize for the best essay published by an early career scholar in legal, moral, …

freeandequaljournal.org/news/784/

Free & Equal Launches Essay Prize - Daily Nous The editors of Free & Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs, the open-access journal created last year by the former editorial team of Philosophy & Public Affairs, is announcing an essay prize...

We define early-career scholars as those no more than 10 years from receiving a postgraduate degree. The awardee will be determined by a committee of Associate Editors for the journal. The award’s recipient will be announced in early 2027.

Announcing a $2000 prize for the best essay published by an early-career scholar in legal, moral, or political philosophy published in F&E in 2025-26. No need to nominate your article: any eligible article will be considered a candidate.

#PolTheory #philsky #moralphil #legalphilosophy #polisky

Supposed Corpses and Correspondence The correspondence requirement is a fundamental doctrinal principle in Anglo-American criminal law.  It maintains that, in general, a particular relation between mens rea and actus reus is necessary f...

In a new article, “Supposed Corpses and Correspondence,” Elise Sugarman explores the relation between the mens rea and actus reus requirements for liability, using “corpse” cases to challenge the existing contemporaneity and causal theories.

#philsky #polphil #legalphilosophy

F&E practises “triple anonymous” peer review. What does this mean? Some mistakenly think it refers to 3 referee reports. Rather, it means:

1. our refs don’t know authors’ identities;
2. vice versa;
3. our editors, including editor-in-chief & managing editor, don’t know authors’ identities

Image of a text: a screenshot of a list of journal published articles at Free & Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs

Very pleased to announce the publication of the first two articles of @freeandequal.bsky.social / Free & Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs! Check them out: freeandequaljournal.org/articles/

F&E has received 151 submissions in 2024—from Sept 13, the day we launched, to Dec 31. That’s roughly 42 submissions per month. We are very grateful indeed to the academic community for this tremendous support in the transition to the new model.

#philsky #poltheory #moralphil #polisky

The Power of Care: Reply to Sliwa Nina Simone sang: "I’m just a soul whose intentions are good." Paulina Sliwa (2019) defends a subtle, worked out picture on which Simone’s excuse turns out to be the basic form of an excuse. But good ...

Our second article has also gone live: David Morgan’s “The Power of Care,” on the nature of excuses, is a reply to @pasliwa.bsky.social’s 2019 “The Power of Excuses” (published in PPA before we resigned en masse from Wiley).

#philsky #moralphil #polphil

Tipping Points: Abuse and Transformative Discovery This paper explores how philosophical accounts of the nature of persons and attributive responsibility can help us to make sense of the kinds of characteristic errors that people make in interpreting ...

Very pleased to announce the publication of the first article in our journal’s new incarnation!

Mark Schroeder’s “Tipping Points: Abuse and Transformative Discovery” explores the nature of attributive responsibility.

#philsky #PolTheory

F&E has received 31 submissions in the journal’s first 4 days alone! We are thrilled at this response and are so grateful to the academic community for rallying around the new journal!

#philsky #polisky #PolTheory

Free & Equal – coming soon to PEA Soup As we announced a few months ago, the editors and board of Philosophy & Public Affairs unanimously resigned from their positions in order to found a new diamond open access journal. That new jo…

We’re very pleased to announce that F&E will be partnering with PEA Soup, who will be arranging and hosting discussions of future F&E papers on their blog dedicated to philosophy, ethics, and academia

#philsky