Ethics and Political Philosophy Group Talk (Ron Aboodi, Toronto)

The Ethics and Political Philosophy Research Interest Group welcomes as a speaker Ron Aboodi, a postdoctoral fellow in our department. Dr. Aboodi’s research has focused mostly on the areas of ethics, moral psychology, the philosophy of action, and decision theory. Most of his work relates to the pursuit of good choices under normative uncertainty. He completed his PhD studies in the Department of Philosophy and the Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Talk Title

Worrisome Manipulation and Educating under Uncertainty

Talk Abstract

This presentation will include two related arguments. Central to both is the normative significance of deliberative projects; by which I mean, roughly, people’s interrelated ongoing efforts to manage their conduct by committing and adhering to ideals, policies, plans, goals, and the like.

First, I argue that one of the central moral worries that manipulation raises stems from disrespecting the manipulee’s deliberative project. In education, some manipulative practices disrespect the students’ future deliberative projects. I illustrate how such practices disrespect the students’ deliberative projects by hindering the development of multi-purpose virtues that are generally conducive to deliberative projects. These include intellectual virtues such as open-mindedness and critical thinking, and executive virtues such as perseverance, courage and patience.

Second, I argue that one pro tanto reason to cultivate such virtues is that doing so constitutes a wise strategy to facilitate future deliberative projects about whose content we are uncertain.

About the Ethics and Political Philosophy Group

The Ethics and Political Philosophy Group meets periodically throughout the year to discuss topics in value theory and related fields, including meta-ethics, normative ethics, applied ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, moral psychology, practical reason, agency, and identity.