Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy: On Experimentalism in Ethics

199 Pages·2011·3.83 MB·English

by  Eric Thomas Weber

Morality, Leadership, and
Public Policy
Continuum Studies in Political Philosophy
Continuum Studies in Political Philosophy presents cutting-edge scholar-
ship in the fi eld of political philosophy. Making available the latest
high-quality research from an international range of scholars work-
ing on key topics and controversies in political philosophy and politi-
cal science, this series is an important and stimulating resource for
students and academics working in the area.
Also available from Continuum:
The Concept of Justice—Thomas Patrick Burke
Nozick’s Libertarian Project—Mark D. Friedman
Rawls, Dewey, and Constructivism—Eric Thomas Weber
Forthcoming:
The Limits of Reason in Hobbes’s Commonwealth—Michael P. Krom
Perfecting Justice in Rawls, Habermas and Honneth—Miriam Bankovsky
Ricoeur, Rawls and Capability Justice—Molly Harikat Mann
Morality, Leadership, and
Public Policy:
On Experimentalism in Ethics
Eric Thomas Weber
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane
11 York Road Suite 704
London SE1 7NX New York NY 10038
© Eric Thomas Weber, 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4411-7311-9
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1 Introduction 1
Part One: Philosophy and Religion in Public Policy
2 On Applying Ethics 15
3 Religion, Public Reason, and Humanism 31
Part Two: Experimentalism, Problem Construction,
and Priorities
4 What Experimentalism Means in Ethics 53
5 Construction, Art, and Politics 73
6 Philosophy and Public Policy Prioritization 97
Part Three: New Technologies and Experiments in Judging
7 Stop him! He stole my internet connection! 123
8 Activist or Active Judges 139
9 Conclusion 155
Notes 159
Bibliography 175
Index 185
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments
I began working on this book in 2007. As my fi rst major project after
my dissertation, I sought help and advice from many people, each of
whom deserves my thanks. The fi rst and most important person who
has helped me is my wife, Annie Davis Weber. She is always a careful
editor and critic. She inspires me and challenges me every day.
Among my colleagues in philosophy around the country, several
have offered me comments and encouragement that have been
instrumental in completing this work. At the University of Dayton,
Dr. Marilyn Fischer and Dr. Denise James each raised helpful ques-
tions and comments about my chapter on problem construction
while I was visiting for a conference hosted in their department. At
the American Philosophies Forum in Atlanta, Dr. John Stuhr pre-
sented some excellent challenges to my presentation of experimen-
talism in ethics, the central thesis of this book. He also gave me
permission to publish in this book a revised version of the essay I
presented at that conference, which has been published in The Jour-
nal of Speculative Philosophy. The essay, which is now Chapter 4 of the
present book, is titled “What Experimentalism Means in Ethics.” In
addition to professor Stuhr’s input, I gained considerably from con-
versations with Professor Jeff Edmonds of Vanderbilt University, who
was also a participant at the forum in Atlanta.
In the summer of 2010, I benefi ted greatly from a grant from the
University of Mississippi to travel to the Society for the Advancement
of American Philosophy’s summer institute, which Dr. Colin K oopman
organized at the University of Oregon. At that event, I had the oppor-
tunity to give a presentation about this book while it was still in devel-
opment. Dr. David Woods offered me valuable feedback at that
meeting. So did Dr. Koopman, who was a kind and generous host. On
the same trip, I had the honor and pleasure to meet and dine with
viii Acknowledgments
Dr. Mark Johnson. Dr. Johnson was extremely helpful for my work on
Chapter 5, “Construction, Art, and Politics.” Of course, he coau-
thored the infl uential book Metaphors We Live By with George Lakoff.
He was encouraging and helpful in suggesting I attend especially to
the works of Lakoff that I then used in Chapter 5.
Next, Dr. John Shook of the Center for Inquiry and coeditor of the
journal Contemporary Pragmatism has signifi cantly encouraged my
work. Two of the chapters in this book were developed from essays I
published in Contemporary Pragmatism. I am grateful not only for
Dr. Shook’s feedback, but also for permission to republish these
articles in revised form here. They are Chapters 2 and 3, respec-
tively titled “On Applying Ethics” and “Religion, Public Reason, and
Humanism.”
As always, I am indebted to Dr. Larry Hickman of Southern Illinois
University at Carbondale and Dr. John Lachs of Vanderbilt Univer-
sity. Dr. Hickman was the ideal dissertation director and remains a
constant mentor and friend. Dr. Lachs was the professor in my under-
graduate education who ignited my passion for a lifetime of philoso-
phy and who remains a friend and mentor as well. I am truly fortunate
to have two truly great mentors. Both of them have made a vast differ-
ence in my life and career.
At the University of Mississippi, I have many people to thank. The
fi rst is a former colleague, Kenneth Townsend, who met with me to
talk about early planning of this book. From the Department of Phi-
losophy and Religion, I received help and feedback in several ways.
The chair of the department, Dr. William Lawhead kindly offered me
feedback and encouragement on my proposal for this book. Dr.
Robert Barnard commented on an early version of Chapter 6 at the
2008 Midsouth Philosophy Conference in Memphis, Tennessee. Also,
I have benefi ted greatly from the work of my colleague Dr. Robert
Westmoreland, from whose writing I have drawn explicitly in Chap-
ter 3. My students have been especially excited to see my work engage
with the work of another professor here at the university. It has shown
them how direct and conversational scholarship can often be in aca-
demia. Next, my colleague in the Department of Public Policy Lead-
ership, Dr. David Rutherford, provided supportive comments on
a chapter of this book before I edited it for inclusion here. My
Acknowledgments ix
department chair, Dr. Robert Haws, provided summer support for my
research several summers in a row and has given me helpful feedback
on ideas central to this project on numerous occasions. I am grateful
also to the College of Liberal Arts and the Provost’s Offi ce at the Uni-
versity of Mississippi for their support for my research in the summer
of 2008, in which I developed a number of the earliest essays that
have become chapters of this book, such as Chapter 3, “Religion,
Public Reason, and Humanism.”
I must also thank a number of students at the University of
Mississippi. The fi rst two are Rachel Willis and Taylor Wood. Both
worked with me as diligent research assistants, helping me fi nd just
the right resources on a number of occasions for my writing. I have
benefi ted in addition from students in my course in Public Policy
Leadership, titled “Ethics and Public Policy.” In three years of pre-
senting that course, nearly 75 students have asked me helpful ques-
tions about articles that became chapters in this book, offering
useful comments and challenges. In particular, fi ve students gave me
in-depth feedback for which I am thankful. They were Ashley Harral,
Claire Graves, Will Godfrey, Hunter Nicholson, and Anna Kate
Robbins. While these fi ve deserve special thanks, I have benefi ted
from feedback from many more students than I can list here. In short,
I have found the community at the University of Mississippi to be
engaging, encouraging, and challenging in all of the wonderful ways
a university should be.
Finally, I owe a special thanks to editors David Avital and Sarah
Campbell at Continuum Publishing, whose excitement for this proj-
ect invigorated my efforts. Tom Crick at Continuum has also been
instrumental in the process of developing the book, overseeing its
progress, and staying in regular communication with me.
I should add that while I have received a great deal of help with this
project, any problems with it are of course wholly my responsibility.
At the same time, authors and leaders must have courage to experi-
ment with ideas, since experiments are central tools in the develop-
ment of social intelligence.