I develop a novel contractualist defense of a limited moral equality of combatants thesis, on which just and unjust combatants enjoy equal moral status in some wars. This possibility reveals overlooked conceptual space for intermediary positions between orthodox just war theory and revisionism. I argue that following a limited moral equality of combatants thesis foreseeably protects both civilians’ and combatants’ strong interests in survival more robustly than alternative pacifist and revisionist principles. So such a thesis cannot be reasonably rejected. Contractualism therefore entails a limited moral equality of combatants thesis. In defending this thesis, I also address the concern that contractualism cannot be applied to just war theory due to the massive noncompliance inherent to warfare. I conclude by contrasting my contractualist approach with the recent contractarian one by Yitzhak Benbaji and Daniel Statman. I demonstrate that the contractualist approach avoids several counterexamples that plague Benbaji and Statman’s contractarian account.

Keywords: moral equality of combatants; just war theory; contractualism; non-ideal theory; ideal world problem; contractarianism

What explains the necessary wrong of colonialism? I argue that colonial institutions unfairly treat the colonized as if they are moral inferiors, which consequently diminishes colonized peoples’ social bases of self-respect. Because colonizers politically subjugate colonized peoples, colonial institutions permeate colonized peoples’ basic structures of society. But colonial institutions degradingly treat the colonized as moral inferiors. So, these institutions unjustly diminish colonized individuals’ social bases of self-respect. This result shows that, contra some recent philosophical discussion, colonialism is necessarily wrong for substantive—as opposed to merely procedural—reasons. After replying to several objections, I argue that my self-respect approach is superior to Stilz’s (2019), Ypi’s (2013), and Ferguson and Veneziani’s (2021) accounts of colonialism’s necessary wrong. Finally, I describe my view’s implications for future work on just war theory, self-determination, and social oppression.

Keywords: colonialism; social bases of self-respect; basic structure of society; moral powers; justice; egalitarianism

What is self-respect? And how can it bear the normative weight that liberal egalitarians often place on it within their theories of justice? This paper aims to answer these questions. I argue that appraisal self-respect does not entail sufficient recognition self-respect from the viewpoint of justice. Then, after noting that recognition self-respect is often appealed to by activists and theorists participating in real-world egalitarian movements, I argue that it is the value of recognition self-respect—as opposed to appraisal self-respect—that supports an egalitarian picture of political morality. I argue that Rawlsian recognition self-respect can play this role and that its social bases constitute a social primary good. I conclude by replying to the objections that the social bases of self-respect are not distribuenda, that considering these social bases to be a social primary good constitutes unacceptable double-counting, that the social bases of self-respect cannot explain the content of justice, and that individuals are fully responsible for developing their self-respect.

Keywords: social bases of self-respect; justice; egalitarianism; social oppression; social primary goods

Any adequate semantics of generic sentences (e.g., “Philosophers evaluate arguments”) must accommodate both what we call the positive data and the negative data. The positive data consists of observations about what felicitous interpretations of generic sentences are available. Conversely, the negative data consists of observations about which interpretations of generic sentences are unavailable. Nguyen argues that only his pragmatic neo-Gricean account and Sterken’s indexical account can accommodate the positive data. Lee and Nguyen have advanced the debate by arguing that the negative data is a problem for both Nguyen’s and Sterken’s accounts; these two accounts seem to incorrectly predict that generics have felicitous interpretations that they, in fact, fail to have. In this paper, we advance this debate—and, more generally, the task of developing an adequate formal semantics of generics—by arguing that a neglected class of theories are compatible with both the positive data and the negative data. Specifically, we argue that treating the generic operator GEN as a relative gradable expression with a positive, upper- and lower- bounded scale helps accommodate the positive data and the negative data. While developing this view, we show how several previously developed semantics of generics may systematically accommodate both sets of data. One broad contribution of this paper is to show that, while they generate important desiderata, the positive and negative data cannot determine a unique semantics for generics. A further contribution of this paper is to highlight previously unnoted ways in which degree semantics may inform semantic theories of generic meaning.

Keywords: generics; bare plurals; gradability; probability; typicality; normality

Nguyen (2020) introduced the positive data and argued that only his pragmatic account and Sterken’s (2015a) indexical account can accommodate it. In this paper, we will present new data – what we call the negative data – and argue that there is no theory on the market that is compatible with both the positive data and the negative data. We will draw two generalizations from them and develop a novel version of the indexical account that captures both the positive data and the negative data. In particular, we argue that there is a semantic constraint that, in any context, the semantic value of GEN is upward monotone and non-symmetric. Whereas the indexical account can accommodate these data when appropriately modified, the pragmatic account cannot. This is because no pragmatic principles have been developed that can explain the negative data. While we focus on only the pragmatic account and the indexical account, the data and generalizations discussed here are of broad interest, as they must be accommodated by any empirically adequate account of generics.

Keywords: generics; pragmatic enrichment; monotonicity; symmetry; indexicals; GEN

I provide two arguments against value-free naturalism. Both are based on considerations concerning biological teleology. Value-free naturalism is the thesis that both (1) everything is, at least in principle, under the purview of the sciences and (2) all scientific facts are purely non-evaluative. First, I advance a counterexample to any analysis on which natural selection is necessary to biological teleology. This should concern the value-free naturalist, since most value-free analyses of biological teleology appeal to natural selection. My counterexample is unique in that it is likely to actually occur. It concerns the creation of synthetic life. Recent developments in synthetic biology suggest scientists will eventually be able to develop synthetic life. Such life, however, would not have any of its traits naturally selected for. Second, I develop a simple argument that biological teleology is a scientific but value-laden notion. Consequently, value-free naturalism is false. I end with some concluding remarks on the implications for naturalism, the thesis that (1). Naturalism may be salvaged only if we reject (2). (2) is a dogma that unnecessarily constrains our conception of the sciences. Only a naturalism that recognizes value-laden notions as scientifically respectable can be true. Such a naturalism is a functional naturalism.

Keywords: philosophy of biology; biological teleology; teleological realism; naturalism; synthetic biology; value

Jack Spencer has recently argued for the striking thesis that, possibly, an agent is able to do the impossible—that is, perform an action that is metaphysically impossible for that person to perform. Spencer bases his argument on (Simple G), a case in which it is impossible for an agent G to perform some action but, according to Spencer, G is still intuitively able to perform that action. I reply that we would have to give up at least four action-theoretical principles if we accept that G is able to do the impossible. We may be best off retaining the principles and thus rejecting Spencer’s intuition that G is able to do the impossible. I then consider an argument for the claim that G is able to do the impossible that goes through the Snapshot Principle. I, however, deny that any true variant of the Snapshot Principle shows that G is able to do the impossible. Moreover, the counterexample to the Snapshot Principle that I develop also suggests that G is unable to do the impossible in (Simple G). The most natural explanation for why an agent is unable to perform some action in this counterexample extends to (Simple G). Next, I develop three error theories for why we might initially share Spencer’s intuition that G is able to do the impossible in (Simple G). Finally, I consider a couple other “G-cases” of Spencer’s and find them all wanting. Perhaps we are unable to do the impossible.

Bare plural generic sentences pervade ordinary talk. And yet it is extremely controversial what semantics to assign to such sentences. In this paper, I achieve two tasks. First, I develop a novel classification of the various standard uses to which bare plurals may be put. This “variety data” is important—it gives rise to much of the difficulty in systematically theorizing about bare plurals. Second, I develop a novel account of bare plurals, the radical account. On this account, all bare plurals fail to express propositions. The content of a bare plural has to be pragmatically “completed” by a speaker in order for her to make an assertion. At least the content of a quantifier expression has to be supplied. But sometimes, the content of a sentential operator or modal verb is also supplied. The radical account straightforwardly explains the variety data: Speakers’ communicative intentions vary wildly across different contexts.

Keywords: generics; bare plurals; impliciture; pragmatic enrichment; pragmatics; semantics; philosophy of language

Reid’s dilemma concludes that, whether the idea associated with a denied proposition is lively or faint, Hume is committed to saying that it is either believed or merely conceived. In neither case would there be denial. If so, then Hume cannot give an adequate account of denial. I consider and reject Powell’s suggestion that Hume could have advanced a “Content Contrary” account of denial that avoids Reid’s dilemma. However, not only would a Humean Content Contrary account be viciously circular, textual evidence suggests that Hume did not hold such an account. I then argue that Govier’s distinction between force and vivacity cannot help Hume. Not only did Hume fail to recognize this distinction, we can advance a variant of Reid’s dilemma even if we distinguish force from vivacity.