Welcome to the Journal of Practical Ethics, an open access journal in moral and political philosophy (and related areas), published by the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, located at the University of Oxford.
Abstract: This article defends platforms’ moral responsibility to moderate wrongful speech posted by users. Several duties together ground and shape this responsibility. First, platforms have duties to defend others from harm when they can do so at reasonable cost. Second, platforms have a moral duty to avoid complicity with users’ wrongfully harmful or dangerous speech. I will argue that one can [...]
Read MoreAbstract: When a misfortune befalls us, it is natural for us to react: “Why me?” This is not just the question: “Why did this unfortunate event occur?” Nor are we simply wondering: “Why do such things happen?” The self-reference implies a comparison we generally manage to keep at the back of our minds: “Why did this happen to me, and not someone else?” Importantly, this is not an [...]
Read MoreAbstract: Traditionally, the discounting debate has been dominated by those who advocate equality between generational interests and those who think future generations’ interests should be discounted at some positive rate. This paper argues for a novel view: future generations’ interests should be negatively discounted. First I defend the claim that we have greater reason to promote the [...]
Read MoreAbstract: Most parents lie to their children. They do it for fun, as a method of behavior control, and to protect children from what they consider to be dangerous truths. At the same time, most parents bring their children up with the message that honesty is a virtue and that lying is usually wrong. How should our practice and our preaching be reconciled? In this paper, I examine the [...]
Read MoreAbstract: The value of a person’s life is not reducible to the satisfaction of one’s desires or interests, including the interest in living longer. A person who takes pleasure in beach vacations each summer may look forward to another stay at the shore next year, but this is not the kind of interest that gives her a reason to continue living. Assuming she has lived a normal [...]
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