Civic Studies » contemporary ethics

effortful attention and moral responsibility

Peter — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:08:37 +0000

When are we responsible for what we do, or for what we think and feel? Some connect responsibility to the will and ask whether the will is free. In any given situation, a person (or a group, a non-human animal, or a machine) either has a will that is free or does not; this is […] Continue reading →

people as clusters of attention

Peter — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:26:44 +0000

Attention is endangered. It is what Silicon Valley has learned to capture and commoditize. It is what LLMs pretend to offer by speaking in the first-person singular, often in a sycophantic voice. It is what my iPhone takes from me. It is what Donald Trump constantly demands. To understand why our attention should be valuable […] Continue reading →

generosity as a virtue

Peter — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 15:38:55 +0000

Summary: I will argue here that generosity is a virtue when it is involves respectful care for an individual. Therefore, paradigm cases of generosity involve acts of personal attention and two-way communication, such as carefully selecting an appropriate gift or making a kind remark. To assess a transfer of money, it is better to ask […]

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