Despite the fact that many people face pressing questions about what they are morally required to do for their aging parents, surprisingly little has been said in the literature about filial obligations. After considering and rejecting two theories--Gratitude Theory and Special Goods Theory--this paper offers a novel, blended theory of filial obligations, called the Gratitude for Special Goods Theory. On this view, grown children often have extensive obligations to meet their parents’ needs, for doing so serves as an expression of (...) gratitude for the parents’ past provision of goods to the child. (shrink)

Writing any paper—let alone a philosophy paper—can strike fear into the hearts of even seasoned undergraduate students. In this article, I discuss strategies for demystifying both the process of writing a philosophy paper and the inevitable assessment of that paper. Rather than viewing the assessment of their work as something I do after they do their part, inviting students to think about the assessment of their work serves as the first stage of their writing process. The goal is that students (...) come to understand the work they are being asked to do and endorse that work as worthwhile. Ideally, they even enjoy it a little along the way. Specifically, I outline two practices to accomplish the goal of demystifying writing: collaborative rubric design and a process-based feedback loop geared toward making visible what is often the invisible work of doing philosophy. (shrink)

Filial Obligation The question of what one should do for one’s parents is often urgent; a parent needs care in the near future, and the grown child must decide what kind of care to provide, whether and to what extent to finance the provision of care, and to what extent the child ought to sacrifice … Continue reading Filial Obligation →.

In this paper, I argue that the pervasive whiteness of children’s literature contributes to the cultivation of racial biases and stereotypes while impeding the cultivation of compassion toward others. Furthermore, it makes many of the valuable goods associated with literature less accessible to children of color than to white children. Therefore, when possible, consumers have a moral obligation to purchase books that include multidimensional characters of color, and act wrongly when they purchase only books that do not. I respond to (...) the objection that because pervasive whiteness of children’s literature is a collective problem that produces collective harm, consumers are not blameworthy for their individual purchases. (shrink)

Although Saghai primarily focuses on distinguishing nudges from other forms of influence, ‘Salvaging the Concept of Nudge’ offers a definition of nudges that could blunt much of the moral criticism of nudging and clarify debates about specific policies.1 The definition he offers, however, restricts the class of nudges to include only those influences that counter an individual's preferences; thus, contrary to what Thaler and Sunstein say, nudges cannot be instances of libertarian paternalism.1 ,2According to Saghai, ‘A nudges B when A (...) makes it more likely that B will ϕ, primarily by triggering B's shallow cognitive processes, while A's influence preserves B's choice-set and is substantially non-controlling ’. Because the second condition—the substantial non-control condition—is supposed to ensure that nudges preserve freedom in a robust sense, this condition warrants careful attention.According to Saghai, A's influence is substantially non-controlling ‘when B could easily not ϕ if she did not want to ϕ’. To determine whether a particular influence constitutes a nudge, we must ask whether from B's perspective that influence is easily resistible. …. (shrink)

From a team of renowned and innovative philosophy teachers, this volume offers accessible reflections and practical suggestions for constructing a successful philosophy course. The collection covers syllabus design, classroom management, and exercises and assessments, with each section concluding with insights from students on what they have learned from studying philosophy. An essential resource for teachers of philosophy at any stage of their career, each contribution balances reflective values with concrete practices and presents a valuable discussion about theories of philosophy pedagogy.