Don Loeb

My research focuses on metaethical issues such as the debate over moral realism, the methodology of moral reasoning, the function of moral language, and the nature of the good. I regularly teach a seminar on contemporary approaches to these issues, as well as courses in jurisprudence and political philosophy, and a problems-oriented introductory class (with an emphasis on ethics, philosophy of religion and epistemology).

Since 2003, I have been director of the John Dewey Honors Program in UVM’s College of Arts and Sciences. For several years I have taught introductory classes in the program, including “Skepticism: Moral, Theological, and Global” and “Contemporary Moral Problems”.

With Alan Wertheimer of Political Science, I am the author of a new, two semester course, “Making Ethical Choices: Personal, Public, and Professional,” which will be taken by all first year students in UVM’s Honors College, beginning in the fall of 2004. In conjunction with this course, Professor Wertheimer and I will also lead a faculty summer seminar on some of the same material in August of 2004

Recent publications:

"Reply to Gill and Sayre-McCord", Forthcoming in W. Sinnott Armstrong, ed., Ethics and Cognitive Science

"The Argument from Moral Experience", Forthcoming in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice

"Reply to Gerd Gigarenzer", (with Julia Driver), Forthcoming in W. Sinnot Armstrong, ed., Ethics and Cognitive Science

“Moral Incoherentism: How to Pull a Metaphysical Rabbit Out of a Semantic Hat” (Forthcoming in The Psychology and Biology of Morality, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, ed.)

"Moral Explanations of Moral Beliefs," Forthcoming in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

"Gastronomic Realism--A Cautionary Tale" [PDF] The Journal Of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 2003

"Moral Realism and the Argument from Disagreement," Philosophical Studies, Vol. 90, No 3, June 1998

"Must a Moral Irrealist be a Pragmatist?," American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 2, April, 1996

"Generality and Moral Justification," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. LVI, No. I, March, 1996

"Full-Information Accounts of Individual Good," Social Theory and Practice Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring, 1995; reprinted in George Sher, ed., Moral Philosophy: Selected Readings, 2nd ed.

Book Reviews:

Ethical Norms, Particular Cases, by James Wallace, The Philosophical Review, Vol.111, No. 1 (January, 2002)

The Tanner Lectures in Human Values 17, Grethe Peterson, ed., Ethics, Vol. 112, No. 1 (October, 2001)

Common Values, by Sisella Bok, Ethics, Vol. 107, No. 4, July, 1997

Appellate Brief:

Vacco v. Quill (Assisted Suicide) U.S. Supreme Court, November, 1996

Works in progress include:

"What Possible use could a Moral Irrealist Have for Moral Reasoning?"/ "Why Should I Care What I Value?" (Delivered as lectures; in prep. for Oxford Studies in Metaethics)

Moral Irrealism (Book Manuscript)

Address:

Don Loeb
Philosophy Department
The University of Vermont
70 S. Williams St., Room. 201
Burlington, VT 05401

Phone Numbers:

(w) (802) 656-3138
(w-front desk) (802) 656-4042
(fax) (802) 656-3133
(h) (802) 862-1290

E-mail address: dloeb@zoo.uvm.edu