- Shelly Kagan
Shelly Kagan is the Clark Professor of Philosophy at
Yale University and the former Henry R. Luce Professor of Social Thought and Ethics. Originally a native of Skokie,Illinois , he received his B.A. fromWesleyan University and his Ph.D. fromPrinceton University under the supervision ofThomas Nagel in 1982. He taught at theUniversity of Pittsburgh and at theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago before coming to Yale. [http://www.yale.edu/opa/v32.n33/story8.html "Shelly Kagan named Clark Professor of Philosophy"] , "Yale Bulletin and Calendar", July 23, 2004, Volume 32, Number 33 retrieved February 3, 2005.]According to his Yale web page, his main research interests "lie in
moral philosophy , in particularnormative ethics . Indeed, my second book is a systematic survey of the field of normative ethics, considered analytically (rather than historically, as is more typical of textbooks in ethics). More particularly still, much of my work centers on the debate between consequentialist and deontological moral theories." [http://www.yale.edu/philos/people/kagan_shelly.html Kagan's Yale web page] retrieved October 28, 2006.]An article in the "Yale Bulletin and Calendar" says that his book "The Limits of Morality" "critiques so-called "ordinary
morality "; the view that there are limits to what morality can impose on humans; and defends the doctrine of classicalutilitarianism , which holds that people are morally obliged, without limit, to do as much good as they can." His "Normative Ethics" "examines how to judge the rightness or wrongness of actions, exploring such factors as consequences, harm andconsent ."Kagan is currently exploring the concept of desert, which is a philosophical concept of what individuals do or do not deserve. He is working on a book called "The Geometry of Desert" to be published in the future. Kagan is also a member of the editorial board of the journal "Ethics".
Books
* "Normative Ethics", Westview Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8133-0846-1.
* "The Limits of Morality",Oxford University Press , 1989. ISBN 0-19-823916-5.References
External links
Kagan's course " [http://open.yale.edu/courses/philosophy/death/home.html Death] " at [http://open.yale.edu/courses/index.html Open Yale Courses] . Includes audio and video files of course lectures.
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