Stephen Darwall

Stephen Darwall
Born1946 (age 78–79)
EducationYale University (BA)
University of Pittsburgh (PhD)
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolAnalytic
Main interests
Moral philosophy
Notable ideas
Second-person standpoint in ethics

Stephen Darwall (born 1946) is a contemporary moral philosopher, best known for his work developing Kantian and deontological themes. He was named Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Philosophy at Yale University in 2008.[1] He was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2023.[2]

Education and career

A 1968 graduate of Yale University, he earned his PhD in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh under Kurt Baier in 1972.[3] He began his teaching career at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1972, and then joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Michigan philosophy department, where he became, in 2006, John Dewey Distinguished University Professor Emeritus and moved to Yale.[4] He has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2001[5] and was made a Guggenheim Fellow for philosophy in 2023.[6] He and David Velleman are founding co-editors of Philosophers' Imprint. [7] He specializes in the foundations and history of ethics.[8]

Work and research

He is known for his contributions to ethical theory and the history of ethics.[1] His seminal work, The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability (2006), offers a perspective on the foundations of deontic morality, focusing on moral obligation, rights, and accountability.[9] In this work, Darwall argues that the interpersonal nature of moral claims—what he terms the "second-person standpoint"—provides the basis for moral reasoning. [10]

Darwall expanded on these ideas in two collections of essays, Morality, Authority, Law: Essays in Second-Personal Ethics I and Honor, History, and Relationship: Essays in Second-Personal Ethics II (2013).[11]

In addition to his works on ethical theory, Darwall has worked on the history of ethics with publications like The British Moralists and the Internal ‘Ought’: 1640-1740 (1995)[12] and Modern Moral Philosophy: From Grotius to Kant (2023), the first in a planned series tracing the development of moral philosophy through the twentieth century.[13]

His book The Heart and Its Attitudes (2024) examines the role of second-personal attitudes in fostering personal relationships and emotional connections, building on his earlier work on mutual accountability and morality.[14]

His other publications include Impartial Reason (1983), Philosophical Ethics (1998), and Welfare and Rational Care (2002), alongside seven edited anthologies, such as Moral Discourse and Practice (1997), co-edited with Allan Gibbard and Peter Railton.[5]

Selected works

  • Impartial Reason (1983)
  • The British Moralists and the Internal 'Ought': 1640–1740 (1995)
  • Welfare and Rational Care (2002)
  • The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability (2006)
  • Morality, Authority, and Law: Essays in Second-Personal Ethics I (2013)
  • Honor, History, and Relationships: Essays in Second-Personal Ethics II (2013)
  • Modern Moral Philosophy: From Grotius to Kant (2023).

He also has written an ethics textbook:

  • Philosophical Ethics (1997)

References

  1. ^ a b "Stephen Darwall Named the Andrew Downey Orrick Professor". 12 September 2008.
  2. ^ Gonzalez, Susan (11 April 2023). "Philosopher Stephen Darwall is named a Guggenheim Fellow". YaleNews.
  3. ^ https://campuspress.yale.edu/stephendarwall/files/2015/10/VitaeYale-1r8ucjd.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  4. ^ Stephen Darwall/Yale
  5. ^ a b "Stephen Darwall Named the Andrew Downey Orrick Professor". 12 September 2008.
  6. ^ "Fellow Page". Guggenheim Fellowship. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  7. ^ Weinberg, Justin. "Philosophers' Imprint Seeks To Fill Editorial Positions". Daily Nous.
  8. ^ Darwall, Stephen (January 2012). "Grotius at the Creation of Modern Moral Philosophy". Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie. 94 (3). doi:10.1515/agph-2012-0013.
  9. ^ Sussman, David (2010-01-01). "The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability". Journal of Moral Philosophy. 7 (3): 414–416. doi:10.1163/174552410X511482. ISSN 1745-5243.
  10. ^ Yaffe, Gideon (2010-01-01). "Comment on Stephen Darwall's The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect and Accountability". Faculty Scholarship Series.
  11. ^ https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/81349/3/Darwallreview.pdf
  12. ^ Penelhum, Terence (1997). "The British Moralists and the Internal "Ought": 1640-1740. Stephen Darwall". Ethics. 108 (1): 218–220. doi:10.1086/233798. ISSN 0014-1704.
  13. ^ Setiya, Kieran (2024-10-01). "Modern Moral Philosophy: From Grotius to Kant". Philosophical Review. 133 (4): 447–452. doi:10.1215/00318108-11499614. ISSN 0031-8108.
  14. ^ www.ff.cuni.cz, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy |. "Stephen Darwall: Attitudes of the Will and Attitudes of the Heart". Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy. Retrieved 2025-01-07.