 | Shelly Kagan |
Shelly Kagan, the newly named Clark Professor of Philosophy, is a noted scholar of moral philosophy, ethics, and social and political philosophy.
His two books, "The Limits of Morality" (1989) and "Normative Ethics" (1998) are used in philosophy courses around the world. In the former, Kagan critiques so-called "ordinary morality" -- the view that there are limits to what morality can impose on humans -- and defends the doctrine of classical utilitarianism, which holds that people are morally obliged, without limit, to do as much good as they can.
In "Normative Ethics," the philosopher examines how to judge the rightness or wrongness of actions, exploring such factors as consequences, harm and consent. This book was selected by Choice as an "Outstanding Academic Book" for 1998.
Kagan's numerous articles have stimulated national discussion about issues of ethics and morality. His most recent work focuses on the development of a theory of the good -- exploring such topics as the nature of well being, the concept of intrinsic value and problems involving ranking worlds with infinite amounts of utility. He is currently working on a book titled "The Geometry of Desert."
Kagan's Yale courses have included an exploration of such subjects as ethics and normative ethics, utopia and death.
Kagan holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University. He taught at the University of Pittsburgh 1981-1986 and then served on the University of Illinois at Chicago faculty for nine years before joining the Yale faculty as the Henry R. Luce Professor of Social Thought and Ethics in 1995.
As a Luce Scholar, he has held joint appointments in the philosophy department and in ethics, politics and economics.
The philosopher was a senior fellow at the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago 1987-1988. He has been an invited lecturer and conference presenter at universities throughout the nation and for numerous scholarly associations. He serves on the editorial board of Ethics.
T H I S
Shelly Kagan named Clark Professor
of Philosophy
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