Barbara Herman - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Barbara Herman
The Moral Habitat
Part Three of the book investigates the practical and theoretical consequences for the Kantian mo... more Part Three of the book investigates the practical and theoretical consequences for the Kantian moral habitat of having as its moral structure a system of juridical and ethical duties principles that is dynamic, empirically responsive, and so subject to change. Although the moral theory is based in a priori principle, it requires a pragmatics. This is illustrated by arguments about public education, about state-supported elder care, and about the moral challenge of homelessness (discussed in detail in Chapter 10).
Morality as Rationality, 2016
The Moral Habitat, 2021
This chapter explicates Kantian imperfect duties and their source-value in obligatory ends. Imper... more This chapter explicates Kantian imperfect duties and their source-value in obligatory ends. Imperfect duties add material and psychological resources to make the moral habitat safe and accessible. Using the duty of beneficence, the chapter explains the kind of discretion these duties allow and the demands they make. Beneficence is, in the first instance, a relational duty. Engaging with others’ pursuit of happiness, we act for their ends, not their needs, with an eye towards the health of their agency. Relational beneficence is supplemented by two other duties of assistance: a humanitarian duty directed at strangers that obligates us collectively, and a remedial duty for those responsible to repair the effects of their unjust actions. When combined, the three duties of assistance distribute the demandingness of need in a more humane and morally responsive way, at times with the support of juridical institutions that take on some of the moral labor.
The Moral Habitat, 2021
This chapter explores the imperfect duties that belong with gifts and other transfers of goods. I... more This chapter explores the imperfect duties that belong with gifts and other transfers of goods. It identifies the peculiar wrong in “giving too much” as a status injury made visible in the distortions of relationship caused by the giving. The wrongful giving morally disables or disorients the recipient as an equal partner in the exchange. The source of the wrong is a misuse of morally sanctioned discretion. The chapter then explores the awkward result that in giving too much an action can be not impermissible and yet morally wrong to do. Middle Work 2 explains this result arguing that the pair, impermissible-permissible, should be regarded as contraries, not contradictories. It follows that an action can be morally wrong if it is either of an act-type that is impermissible, or, if not of an impermissible act-type, it is ruled out by moral features of particular circumstances or conditions.
Filozofija I Drustvo, 2020
American Philosophical Association Centennial Series, 2013
There is a familiar story that begins this way. Morality constrains. Liberty-loving people chafe,... more There is a familiar story that begins this way. Morality constrains. Liberty-loving people chafe, and demand justifying explanation. One might almost regard this as modern moral philosophy's primal scene. If we negotiate the challenge well, morality is securely on board and we can ...
Essays for John Rawls, 1997
New Essays on Kantian Ethics and Virtue Ethics, 2011
This paper focuses on Kant's idea of "rational nature as an end in itself&qu... more This paper focuses on Kant's idea of "rational nature as an end in itself" -- its meaning and its significance in the Formula of Humanity.
Philosophy & Public Affairs, 2008
Philosophy <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Public Affairs, 2001
Philosophical Studies, 1984
The Philosophical Review, 1981
ON THE VALUE OF ACTING FROM THE MOTIVE OF DUTY ... The overdetermination of actions is a general ... more ON THE VALUE OF ACTING FROM THE MOTIVE OF DUTY ... The overdetermination of actions is a general phenomenon. It is quite common for us to have more than one motive for what ... '"What Kant Might Have Said: Moral Worth and the Overdetermina-tion of Dutiful Action," ...
Kantian Review, 2011
In response to critical discussions of my book, Moral Literacy, by Stephen Engstrom, Sally Sedgwi... more In response to critical discussions of my book, Moral Literacy, by Stephen Engstrom, Sally Sedgwick and Andrews Reath, I offer a defence of Kant's formalism that is not only friendly to my claims for the moral theory's sensitivity to a wide range of moral phenomena and practices at the ground level, but also consistent with Kant's high rationalist ambitions.
The Journal of Philosophy, 1995
Copyright © 1993 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in t... more Copyright © 1993 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 9876 54 321 This book is printed on acid-free paper, and its binding materials have been chosen for strength and durability. Library of Congress ...
The Moral Habitat
Part Three of the book investigates the practical and theoretical consequences for the Kantian mo... more Part Three of the book investigates the practical and theoretical consequences for the Kantian moral habitat of having as its moral structure a system of juridical and ethical duties principles that is dynamic, empirically responsive, and so subject to change. Although the moral theory is based in a priori principle, it requires a pragmatics. This is illustrated by arguments about public education, about state-supported elder care, and about the moral challenge of homelessness (discussed in detail in Chapter 10).
Morality as Rationality, 2016
The Moral Habitat, 2021
This chapter explicates Kantian imperfect duties and their source-value in obligatory ends. Imper... more This chapter explicates Kantian imperfect duties and their source-value in obligatory ends. Imperfect duties add material and psychological resources to make the moral habitat safe and accessible. Using the duty of beneficence, the chapter explains the kind of discretion these duties allow and the demands they make. Beneficence is, in the first instance, a relational duty. Engaging with others’ pursuit of happiness, we act for their ends, not their needs, with an eye towards the health of their agency. Relational beneficence is supplemented by two other duties of assistance: a humanitarian duty directed at strangers that obligates us collectively, and a remedial duty for those responsible to repair the effects of their unjust actions. When combined, the three duties of assistance distribute the demandingness of need in a more humane and morally responsive way, at times with the support of juridical institutions that take on some of the moral labor.
The Moral Habitat, 2021
This chapter explores the imperfect duties that belong with gifts and other transfers of goods. I... more This chapter explores the imperfect duties that belong with gifts and other transfers of goods. It identifies the peculiar wrong in “giving too much” as a status injury made visible in the distortions of relationship caused by the giving. The wrongful giving morally disables or disorients the recipient as an equal partner in the exchange. The source of the wrong is a misuse of morally sanctioned discretion. The chapter then explores the awkward result that in giving too much an action can be not impermissible and yet morally wrong to do. Middle Work 2 explains this result arguing that the pair, impermissible-permissible, should be regarded as contraries, not contradictories. It follows that an action can be morally wrong if it is either of an act-type that is impermissible, or, if not of an impermissible act-type, it is ruled out by moral features of particular circumstances or conditions.
Filozofija I Drustvo, 2020
American Philosophical Association Centennial Series, 2013
There is a familiar story that begins this way. Morality constrains. Liberty-loving people chafe,... more There is a familiar story that begins this way. Morality constrains. Liberty-loving people chafe, and demand justifying explanation. One might almost regard this as modern moral philosophy's primal scene. If we negotiate the challenge well, morality is securely on board and we can ...
Essays for John Rawls, 1997
New Essays on Kantian Ethics and Virtue Ethics, 2011
This paper focuses on Kant's idea of "rational nature as an end in itself&qu... more This paper focuses on Kant's idea of "rational nature as an end in itself" -- its meaning and its significance in the Formula of Humanity.
Philosophy & Public Affairs, 2008
Philosophy <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Public Affairs, 2001
Philosophical Studies, 1984
The Philosophical Review, 1981
ON THE VALUE OF ACTING FROM THE MOTIVE OF DUTY ... The overdetermination of actions is a general ... more ON THE VALUE OF ACTING FROM THE MOTIVE OF DUTY ... The overdetermination of actions is a general phenomenon. It is quite common for us to have more than one motive for what ... '"What Kant Might Have Said: Moral Worth and the Overdetermina-tion of Dutiful Action," ...
Kantian Review, 2011
In response to critical discussions of my book, Moral Literacy, by Stephen Engstrom, Sally Sedgwi... more In response to critical discussions of my book, Moral Literacy, by Stephen Engstrom, Sally Sedgwick and Andrews Reath, I offer a defence of Kant's formalism that is not only friendly to my claims for the moral theory's sensitivity to a wide range of moral phenomena and practices at the ground level, but also consistent with Kant's high rationalist ambitions.
The Journal of Philosophy, 1995
Copyright © 1993 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in t... more Copyright © 1993 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 9876 54 321 This book is printed on acid-free paper, and its binding materials have been chosen for strength and durability. Library of Congress ...