Professor CHRISTOPHER WOODARD's Outputs (16)

Metz on the Common Good and the Relational Theory (2023)
Journal Article
Woodard, C. (in press). Metz on the Common Good and the Relational Theory. Social Theory and Practice,

This paper discusses Thaddeus Metz's claims about two of the moral theories he discusses in his book A Relational Moral Theory: the morality of common good developed by Kwame Gyekye, and the relational theory Metz himself defends. The paper begins by... Read More about Metz on the Common Good and the Relational Theory.

The Value and Significance of Ill-Being (2022)
Journal Article
Woodard, C. (2022). The Value and Significance of Ill-Being. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 46, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.5840/msp202212130

Since Shelly Kagan pointed out the relative neglect of ill-being in philosophical discussions, several philosophers have contributed to an emerging literature on its constituents. In doing so, they have explored possible asymmetries between the const... Read More about The Value and Significance of Ill-Being.

Reasons for Rule Consequentialists (2022)
Journal Article
Woodard, C. (2022). Reasons for Rule Consequentialists. Ratio, 35(4), 251-260. https://doi.org/10.1111/rati.12352

This paper explores what a Rule Consequentialist of Brad Hooker's sort can and should say about normative reasons for action. I claim that they can provide a theory of reasons, but that doing so requires distinguishing different roles of rules in the... Read More about Reasons for Rule Consequentialists.

Consequentialism and Reasons for Action (2020)
Book Chapter
Woodard, C. (2020). Consequentialism and Reasons for Action. In D. W. Portmore (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Consequentialism (178-196). Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190905323.013.31

Consequentialist theories often neglect reasons for action. They offer theories of the rightness or the goodness of actions, or of virtue, but they typically do not include theories of reasons. However, consequentialists can give plausible accounts o... Read More about Consequentialism and Reasons for Action.

Taking Utilitarianism Seriously (2019)
Book
Woodard, C. (2019). Taking Utilitarianism Seriously. Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198732624.001.0001

Utilitarianism is in the ascendancy in many parts of public culture, but its stock among moral and political philosophers is low. Many philosophers believe that it is a dead end, since they believe that the objections to it are overwhelming. This boo... Read More about Taking Utilitarianism Seriously.

“… They don’t really listen to people”: Young people’s concerns and recommendations for improving online experiences (2019)
Journal Article
Creswick, H., Dowthwaite, L., Koene, A., Vallejos, E. P., Portillo, V., Cano, M., & Woodard, C. (2019). “… They don’t really listen to people”: Young people’s concerns and recommendations for improving online experiences. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 17(2), 167-182. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-11-2018-0090

© 2019, Helen Creswick, Liz Dowthwaite, Ansgar Koene, Elvira Perez Vallejos, Virginia Portillo, Monica Cano and Christopher Woodard. Purpose: The voices of children and young people have been largely neglected in discussions of the extent to which th... Read More about “… They don’t really listen to people”: Young people’s concerns and recommendations for improving online experiences.

Hybrid Theories of Well-Being (2019)
Book Chapter
Woodard, C. (2019). Hybrid Theories of Well-Being. In H. LaFollette (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee894

Hybrid theories of well-being combine elements of two or more kinds of theory. The most familiar kinds of hybrid combine a subjective requirement (e.g. that a constituent of well-being is enjoyed or desired) with an objective requirement (e.g. that i... Read More about Hybrid Theories of Well-Being.

Subjective Theories of Well-Being (2019)
Book Chapter
Woodard, C. (2019). Subjective Theories of Well-Being. In H. LaFollette (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Ethics (1-8). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee927

Subjective theories of well-being seek to explain what makes something good for a subject in terms of that subject's psychological states. Two ways of distinguishing subjective and non-subjective theories are explained. The main issue dividing subjec... Read More about Subjective Theories of Well-Being.

Ensemble-marginalized Kalman filter for linear time-dependent PDEs with noisy boundary conditions: application to heat transfer in building walls (2018)
Journal Article
Iglesias, M., Sawlan, Z., Scavino, M., Tempone, R., & Woodard, C. (2018). Ensemble-marginalized Kalman filter for linear time-dependent PDEs with noisy boundary conditions: application to heat transfer in building walls. Inverse Problems, 34(7), https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6420/aac224

In this work, we present the ensemble-marginalized Kalman filter (EnMKF), a sequential algorithm analo- gous to our previously proposed approach [1, 2], for estimating the state and parameters of linear parabolic partial differential equations in ini... Read More about Ensemble-marginalized Kalman filter for linear time-dependent PDEs with noisy boundary conditions: application to heat transfer in building walls.

What good is meaning in life? (2017)
Journal Article
Woodard, C. (2017). What good is meaning in life?. De Ethica, 4(3), https://doi.org/10.3384/de-ethica.2001-8819.17467

Most philosophers writing on meaning in life agree that it is a distinct kind of final value. This consensus view has two components: the ‘final value claim’ that meaning in life is a kind of final value, and the ‘distinctness claim’ that it is disti... Read More about What good is meaning in life?.

Accessing online data for youth mental health research: meeting the ethical challenges (2017)
Journal Article
Perez Vallejos, E., Koene, A., Carter, C. J., Hunt, D., Woodard, C., Urquhart, L., Bergin, A., & Statache, R. (in press). Accessing online data for youth mental health research: meeting the ethical challenges. Philosophy && Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-017-0286-y

This article addresses the general ethical issues of accessing online personal data for research purposes. The authors discuss the practical aspects of online research with a specific case study that illustrates the ethical challenges encountered whe... Read More about Accessing online data for youth mental health research: meeting the ethical challenges.

Three conceptions of group-based reasons (2017)
Journal Article
Woodard, C. (2017). Three conceptions of group-based reasons. Journal of Social Ontology, 3(1), https://doi.org/10.1515/jso-2016-0006

Group-based reasons are reasons to play one’s part in some pattern of action that the members of some group could perform, because of the good features of the pattern. This paper discusses three broad conceptions of such reasons. According to the age... Read More about Three conceptions of group-based reasons.

Hybrid theories (2015)
Book Chapter
Woodard, C. (2015). Hybrid theories. In G. Fletcher (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of philosophy of well-being. Routledge

Classifying theories of welfare (2013)
Journal Article
Woodard, C. (2013). Classifying theories of welfare. Philosophical Studies, 165(3), https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-012-9978-4

This paper argues that we should replace the common classification of theories of welfare into the categories of hedonism, desire theories, and objective list theories. The tripartite classification is objectionable because it is unduly narrow and it... Read More about Classifying theories of welfare.

Rationality and the unit of action (2011)
Journal Article
Woodard, C. (2011). Rationality and the unit of action. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 2(2), https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-011-0058-z

This paper examines the idea of an extended unit of action, which is the idea that the
reasons for or against an individual action can depend on the qualities of a larger pattern of action
of which it is a part. One concept of joint action is that... Read More about Rationality and the unit of action.

What Pedro could do
Book
Woodard, C. (2007). What Pedro could do. University of Nottingham

This paper discusses Bernard Williams's famous case of Jim and the Indians. It contrasts two ways of diagnosing the alleged errors of Act Utilitarianism in considering this case. One approach suggests that Act Utilitarianism fails to appreciate the i... Read More about What Pedro could do.