John J. Davenport

Dr. John J. Davenport

Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
Fordham University

Room 921f Lowenstein Building
212-636-7928
Email: Davenport@Fordham.Edu

Personal Pages

Page Summary. This page contains a summary of my job responsibilities and research interests, links to publications, a list of ongoing research projects, legislative/political initiatives, and links to other personal information and photos.

Brief Professional Biography
Media Contact Information: topics on which I can give interviews.
For my academic vitae without links, see my official CV (more up-to-date than the one on our dept. faculty list).
For a list of courses I've taught at Fordham with links to course descriptions and other course-related materials, see my Academic Pages. My courses cover a wide variety of topics, ranging from moral theory, moral psychology (autonomy, free will and responsibility, character) to political philosophy, and existentialism.
For the Philosophy Department's program at the Lincoln Center campus, see Philosophy at FCLC & FCLS.
For the Department's main page with links for all programs, see the Philosophy Department at Fordham University.
For Environmental Studies at FCLC, please see Colin Cathcart in Architecture/Visual Arts (he is the Associate Director from fall 2008 on). For environmental internships, graduate study, and local organization links, please see the ES Hotlinks Document. This page also contains links to information on the new Environmental Policy major and minor at Fordham.
For a thematically grouped list of my publications with links, see my Research Topics page. For a chronological list of books, articles, and chapters published, see below.

Previous Administrative Positions at Fordham	Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies at Lincoln Center: fall 2005 - spring 2008. Advising undergraduates in the Philosophy Major and Minor at the Lincoln Center campus, making course schedules, hosting department events, and maintaining our course webpages. Associate Director of Environmental Studies: fall 2005 - spring 2008. Advising undergraduates in the Environmental Studies Minor at the Lincoln Center campus. Committees. Examples of my regular committee work during the academic year include: - Directing three dissertations in progress and two new thesis proposals (2006 - 2009) - Committee member for several graduate student comprehensive oral exams (2008 - 2009) - Modern Comprehensive Exam for the M.A. degree and doctoral candidacy (several years) - Dissertation reader for twenty students receiving the Ph.D. at Fordham (1999 -2009) - Dissertation proposal defense committees - Departmental graduate admissions committee for M.A. and Ph.D. programs (two years) - Department Hiring Committee (fall 2008) - Department Lectures and Invited Speakers Committee (two years). - Department Executive Committee (three years) - FCLC College Council representative for Philosophy & Environmental Studies (2004-2008) - Strategic Planning Task Force on Central Administration (for Middle States review) - Senior Values Seminar subcommittee of the Arts and Sciences Council (2003 - 2009).
Professional Service	Refereeing book manuscripts, book proposals, and essays for various publishers and philosophy journals. Vice-President of the Søren Kierkegaard Society of North America (2007- 2009). President-elect of the Søren Kierkegaard Society of North America (will serve 2010 - 2011). APA Representative for the Søren Kierkegaard Society of North America ( fall 2003 - fall 2008). In this capacity, I put out two calls for papers and referee submission for two group sessions at two different meetings of the American Philosophical Association per year. See this link for the SK Society's current Call for Papers and Conference Annoucements.
Honors	2007-2008 Professor of the Year Award, Graduate Student Association, Fordham University NEH Summer Stipend, 2004: for work on a new book project, Autonomy and Authenticity.

Publications & Papers	Monographs, Books edited, Chapters in Edited Collections, Journal Articles, and Review Essays. (I have recently added links to public talks available for presentation in powerpoint).
Books	Will as Commitment and Resolve: An Existential Account of Creativity, Love, Virtue, and Happiness. (Fordham University Press, June, 2007). This book argues that willing is more than the voluntary process of forming intentions; it also includes the formation of new motivation (and the alteration of existing motivation). I contrast the active "projection" of new ends with the passive attraction towards them according to the dominant "erosiac" model coming from ancient Greek eudaimonism. Eudaimonist conceptions of human motivation are incapable of fully accounting for phenomena such as virtue, radical evil, deontic motivation, and other types of volitional caring. These phenomena cannot be explained without the idea of projective motivation, which is implicit in a counter-tradition that runs from early Christian thought to Scotus, Kant, Frankl, Levinas, and Harry Frankfurt. Yet I also argue, with Frankl against Frankfurt, that projective motivation requires goods objectively worth caring about. See the Analytical Table of Contents with Preface See the Book Abstract See a sample chapter on Frankfurt, caring, and aretaic commitment. See Amazon.com listing: price $95 now. I hope a paperback will come out next year! There is a good deal on this book for Barnes and Noble members. Kierkegaard After MacIntyre: Essays in Freedom, Narrative, and Virtue, co-edited with Anthony Rudd (Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co., 2001). This book is a collection of published and new essays responding to MacIntyre’s critique of Kierkegaard and exploring the interfaces between Kierkegaard’s thought on moral agency and MacIntyre’s neo-Aristotelian ethics. The volume includes responses by Alasdair MacIntyre and Philip Quinn. This book can still be ordered from the publisher in hardback for the paperback price. Let me know if you need a copy and are having any trouble getting one.
Articles in Journals and Edited Volumes (links to PFD versions: view for personal use only) [For a manuscript version of forthcoming papers, contact me] For a thematically grouped list of my publications with links, see my Research Topics.	For a Federation of Democracies, Ethics and International Affairs 23.1 (spring 2009): Roundtable: "Can Democracies Go It Alone?" (online at http://www.cceia.org/resources/journal/23_1/roundtable/006) "Frankfurt on BS, Sincerity, and Love: A Comparison With Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre," forthcoming in Living Reasonably, Loving Well: Conversing with Frankfurt and Kierkegaard, eds. Myron Penner and Søren Landkildehus. Under consideration for publication in 2009. "Religion in the Public Sphere: How Deliberative Democracy offers a Middle Road," in Rethinking Secularization: Philosophy and the Prophecy of a Secular Age, ed. Gary Gabor and Herbert De Vriese (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009): 289-325. "Augustine on Liberty of the Higher-Order Will: Answers to Hunt and Stump," Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (forthcoming, November, 2008). "A Global Federalist Paper: Consolidation Arguments and Transnational Government," Journal of Value Inquiry 42 (Fall, 2008): 353-375. "Kierkegaard’s Postscript in Light of Fear and Trembling," Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia (Dec. 2008) 64 nos 2-4: 879-908. "What Kierkegaardian Faith Adds to Alterity Ethics: How Levinas and Derrida Miss the Eschatological Dimension," in Kierkegaard and Levinas: Ethics, Politics, and Religion, ed. J. Aaron Simmons and David Wood (Indiana University Press, Oct. 2008): 169-198. "Faith as Eschatological Trust in Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling," in Ethics, Love, and Faith in Kierkegaard, ed. Edward Mooney (Indiana University Press, July 2008): 196 - 233 (and notes). "The Deliberative Relevance of Refraining from Deciding: A Response to McKenna and Pereboom," Acta Analytica 21 no.4 (Fall 2006): 62-88. "The Binding Value of Earnest Emotional Valuation," International Journal of Decision Ethics 2 no.1 (Fall 2006): 107-23. "Aquinas’s Teleological Libertarianism," in Analytical Thomism: Traditions in Dialogue, ed. Matthew Pugh (Ashgate Press, 2007). "Just War Theory Requires a New Federation of Democratic Nations," Fordham International Law Journal 28 no.3 (Feb.2005): 763-85. On this topic, also see my Executive Summary of the proposal. "Happy Endings and Religious Hope: The Lord of the Rings as an Epic Fairy Tale," in The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, ed. Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson (Open Court Publishing Co., 2003): 204-18. "Liberty of the Higher-Order Will: Frankfurt and Augustine," Faith and Philosophy 19 no.4 (October 2002): 437-61. "Fischer and Ravizza on Moral Sanity and Weakness of Will," The Journal of Ethics 6 (2002): 235-59. "Eschatological Ultimacy and the Best Possible Hereafter," Ultimate Reality and Meaning 25 (2002): 36-67. "Kierkegaard, Anxiety, and the Will," Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook, Vol. 6, ed. Niels Jørgen Cappelørn, Hermann Deuser, and Jon Stewart (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, fall 2001): 158-81. "Towards an Existential Virtue Ethics: Kierkegaard and MacIntyre," new in Kierkegaard After MacIntyre (Open Court Publishing Co., 2001): 265-324. "Entangled Freedom: Ethical Authority, Original Sin, and Choice in Kierkegaard’s Concept of Anxiety," Kierkegaardiana 21 (2001): 131-51. "My Schindler’s List: A Personal Kierkegaardian Reflection," Religious Humanism 34 nos. 2 and 3 (summer/fall 2001): 13-23. "The Ethical and Religious Significance of Taciturnus’s Letter in Kierkegaard’s Stages on Life’s Way," in the International Kierkegaard Commentary 11: Stages on Life’s Way, ed. Robert Perkins (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, November 2000): 213-44. "A Phenomenology of the Profane: Heidegger, Blumenberg, and the Structure of the ‘Chthonic,’" The Journal of the British Society of Phenomenology 30 no.2 (May, 1999): 183-207. "Levinas’s Agapeistic Metaphysics of Morals: Absolute Passivity and the Other as Eschatological Hierophany," Journal of Religious Ethics 26 no.2 (Fall 1998): 331-66. "Piety, MacIntyre, and Kierkegaardian Choice: A Reply to Professor Ballard," Faith and Philosophy 15 no.3 (July 1998): 487-501. "Deontology and the Antinomy of Libertarianism: A Response to James Sterba," in Rending and Renewing the Social Order, Social Philosophy Today series, Vol. 12, ed. Yeager Hudson (Edwin Mellen Press, December 1996): 177-218. "The Essence of Eschatology: A Modal Interpretation," Ultimate Reality and Meaning, 19 no.3 (September, 1996): 206-39. "The Meaning of Kierkegaard’s Choice Between the Aesthetic and the Ethical," Southwest Philosophy Review 11 no.2 (August, 1995): 73-108. Revised /reprinted in Kierkegaard After MacIntyre (Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co., 2001): 75-112. "Deontology and Alan Donagan’s Problem of Exception-Rules," Analysis 55 no.4 (October, 1995), 261-70.
Review Essays	Review of Normativity and the Will, by R.J. Wallace in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (online since Dec. 2007 at http://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews.cfm). Review of Religion in the Liberal Polity, ed. Terence Cuneo, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (online since summer 2005 at http://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews.cfm). Review Essay on Natural Law and Practical Rationality, by Mark Murphy, in International Philosophical Quarterly 43 no.2 (June 2003): 229-39. Review of Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility, by Fischer and Ravizza, in Faith and Philosophy 17 no.3 (July 2000): 384-95. Review Essay on Tradition(s), by Stephen Watson, in The Owl of Minerva: Journal of the Hegel Society of America (December 2000): 65-82.
Short Reviews	Review of Virtue Epistemology, ed. Linda Zagzebski and Abrol Fairweather, in International Philosophical Quarterly 42 no.3 (summer 2002): 401-4. Review of Marx, Hayek, and Utopia, by Chris Sciabarra, in Canadian Philosophical Reviews 16 no.2 (April, 1996).
Conference Papers & Lectures	See my CV for a complete list of refereed conference presentations, invited lectures, and replies. Copies of any of these papers and commentaries are available on request. Recent Samples: "Westphal's Kierkegaardian Appreciation of Levinas: Some Doubts," presented at the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology, meeting concurrently with SPEP (Oct. 29, 2009). "A Democratic Federation is Both Feasible and Just: A Response to Habermas and to his Postmodern Critics," delivered at the Critical Theory Roundtable (Fordham University, Sept. 2008). "Norm-Guided Autonomous Agency Without Prior Cares," presented at the Conference on Norms and Persons: Freedom, Commitment, and the Self, University of Konstanz (Konstanz, Germany, July 29-31, 2008).
Public Talks in powerpoint (can be presented on request)	"Lincoln, Slavery, and Race: An Analysis of Lincoln's Changing Views" Presented at Columbia High School (South Orange-Maplewood NJ school district) Feb. 2009 for Lincoln's 200th birthday. "An Existential Analysis of Inauthenticity: Frankfurt on BS and Wantonness, Kierkegaard on Aestheticism and Idle Talk: Presented at the College of Charleston (Feb. 2008) "An Existential God: New Perspectives in Philosophy of Religion." Presented at the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School (November, 2007) "Dwelling in Tolkien and Heidegger." Developed for Fantasy and Philosophy course at Fordham University (2006) "Global Justice: The Need for a Federation of Democracies." Developed for classes at Fordham University (2005) "Moral Issues Regarding Social Security." Developed for a forum at Fordham University (2005) "God and the Structure of the Hubbelian Universe." Presented at the Hiddenness of God conference, University of Colorado (Boulder, CO: October 22, 2004) "Does the Good End Justify an Evil Means? Problems with Utilitarianism," South Orange-Maplewood Adult School (Nov. 3, 2003). A Presentation on Torture for the Fordham Student Chapter of Amnesty International (2000)
Work in Progress or under consideration	"Narrative Unity, Autonomy, and Ethical Earnestness: A Response to John Lippitt;" [submitted; being revised and split into two essays for resubmission to same journal]. Individual Autonomy and Authenticity: An Existential Account. This is my next book project, based on the second half of my dissertation, articles on free will, and other conference presentations. [In progress; three chapters done; three others in partial draft]. Just War, Humanitarian Intervention, and a Federation of Democracies
Older papers in in draft form	Identification and Bad Faith: Combining Frankfurtian and Sartrean Insights Democracy Beyond Nationalism: Transnational Identity and Universalism in the Political Philosophy of Jürgen Habermas A Heideggerian Critique of Hans Blumenberg's Work on Myth An Existentialist Critique of Molinism The Phenomenological Critique of Representationalism: Husserl's and Heidegger's Transcendental Arguments for a Qualified Realism An Interpretation of Kant's "Refutation of Idealism" Rawls's Priority of Liberty and Difference Principles: A Deliberative-Democratic Critique A Philosophical Critique of Psychological Personality-Type Theories: Myers-Briggs, Esyenck, and Jung Habermas's Democratic Balance Between Rights and Popular Sovereignty: A Response to Charles Larmore
Informal papers (with no planned publication)	Time and Responsibility: Duties to the Past, Present, and Future. This is an edited version of four talks given in spring 2002 at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in New York City. For the Wordperfect version, click here. The Matter of Britain: The Mythological and Philosophical Significance of the British Legends (manuscript used as a gift to friends and to supplement a course packet on Tolkien).
Research & Teaching Goals	See my statement on Research Achievements and Goals See my statement on Teaching Experience and Goals
Television and Radio Appearances	Interviewee on the Beowulf and Tolkien episodes in the Mythology series titled "Clash of the Gods," The History Channel (September - October, 2009). Interview with Bill Irwin and John Blythe on Fordham Conversations, WFUV Radio, Aired December 27, 2003. Interview with Larry Petracarro on Books in Action, SOMA-COM Local Access Channel 35, Maplewood NJ, October 7, 2003. Interview on the Morning Show, Channel 12 NYC, Spring 1999. The topic was the ethics of fetal gender selection.
Education	Dissertation: Self and Will: Projective Motivation, Existential Autonomy, and Frankfurt’s Concept of Identification. Director: Karl Ameriks, Hank-McMahon Professor of Philosophy. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1992-1998. Ph.D. conferred August 8, 1998. Yale University: B.A. May, 1989. Graduated Magna Cum Laude with Distinction in Philosophy. TASIS England: High School Diploma, June 1985. Graduate Valedictorian.

Legislative Initiatives, Political Arguments, and Community Involvement.

In addition to academic pursuits, I am involved in real-world political debates relating to my local school board's educational priorities, the State of New Jersey's school funding mechanisms, national political issues such as the federal debt and Social Security, and the need for stronger global governance to uphold fundamental human rights. Here are a list of links to some policy initiatives and papers.

Selected Editorials

How the Republican Party has Fallen: Why Lincoln Would Vote for Obama

The Military Dictators in Burma Should be Prosecuted for Crimes Against Humanity

Problems with the Jan. 2008 NJ State School Funding Formula

The Democratic Federation

The idea of a new federation of the world's democracies is a third way between bankrupt American unilateralism and the outdated/corrupt U.N. Security Council system. Here is a link to the Lobby for a Democratic Federation, which I founded to promote this idea in both the United States and Europe.

And see my Carnegie Council editorial: For a Federation of Democracies

Fun Stuff for classes

Hermione's Riddle of the Potions (I made this handout for use in logic courses)

The Personal Section: Some Family History and Photos

The following section is primarily for family and friends.

Personal Background

Short Personal Biography

Non-academic experience prior to graduate school