John J. Davenport
Department of Philosophy
Lowenstein Building, Room 924
Fordham University, Lincoln Center
113 West 60th Street
New York, NY 10023
davenport@fordham.edu
(212) 636-7928 |
 |
Link to
my course pages
Link to my
personal pages
EDUCATION
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1992-1998, Ph.D. August,
1998.
Yale University: B.A. May, 1989. Magna Cum Laude with Distinction
in Philosophy.
DISSERTATION
Title: Self and Will: An Existential Theory of Motivation and
Frankfurt's Theme of Identification
Advisor: Professor Karl Ameriks
AOS Moral Philosophy (normative ethical theory, moral psychology,
theories of agency and autonomy, free will and moral responsibility).
AOCs Political Philosophy (Rawls, Habermas, Democratic Theory);
Philosophical Anthropology; Existentialism (esp. Kierkegaard, Heidegger,
Sartre); Ethics in Continental Philosophy (Buber, Levinas, Ricouer etc.);
History of Philosophy (esp. Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aquinas, Leibniz, Kant).
BOOKS
Will as Commitment and Resolve: An Existential Account of Creativity, Love,
Virtue, and Happiness (Fordham University Press, fall 2006). 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.
Kierkegaard After MacIntyre, co-edited with Anthony Rudd (Open Court
Publishing Company, 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.
HONORS & AWARDS
Magis Fellowship (reduced teaching load): Fall 2005 - Spring 2008
Fordham Faculty Fellowship, Fall 2004: for work on Autonomy and Authenticity
NEH Summer Stipend, 2004: for work on Autonomy and Authenticity.
ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS in EDITED VOLUMES. See
my personal
pages for links.
"Faith as Eschatological Trust in Fear and
Trembling: Against the Strong Divine Command Reading," forthcoming in
Kierkegaard Confronts Philosophy: New Essays with Replies by Alastair Hannay,
ed. Edward Mooney (Indiana University Press, 2007).
"Kierkegaard's Postscript in Light of
Fear and Trembling: Eschatological Faith," forthcoming in Revista
Portuguesa de Filosofia (2006).
"Aquinas's Teleological Libertarianism" in Analytical Thomism: Traditions
in Dialogue, ed. Matthew Pugh (Ashgate Press, 2006).
"Just War Theory Requires a New Federation of Democratic Nations," Fordham
International Law Journal 28 no.3 (Feb.2005): 763-85.
"The Lord of the Rings as an Epic Fairy Tale: Tolkien's Eucatastrophe,"
in The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, ed. Gregory Bassham and
Eric Bronson (Open Court Publishing Co., 2003).
"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 Religion in the
Liberal Polity, ed. Terence Cuneo, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
(summer 2005) (http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=3061).
Review Essay on Natural Law and Practical Rationality, by Mark
Murphy, 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,
forthcoming in the International Philosophical Quarterly.
Review of Marx, Hayek, and Utopia, by Chris Sciabarra, in Canadian
Philosophical Reviews 16 no.2 (April, 1996).
CONFERENCE PAPERS Summary:
9 APA main-program papers, 2 SPEP presentations, 2 invited papers, & 13
others in ten years.
"The Deliberative Relevance of
Refraining from Deciding: A Response to McKenna and Pereboom." Presented at the Bled Philosophy Conference (Bled, Slovenia: June 1, 2006).
"God and the Structure of the Hubbelian Universe." Presented at the
Hiddenness of God conference, University of Colorado (Boulder, CO: October
22, 2004)
"Faith as Eschatological Trust in Fear and Trembling: Against the Strong
Divine Command Reading," presented at special session in honor of Alastair
Hannay, arranged by the Kierkegaard Research Center (Copenhagen, Denmark:
Aug.14, 2004)
"Global Frankfurt-Style Cases: A Libertarian
Reply," Pacific Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association
(Seattle, WA, March 31, 2002).
"Asymmetric Ecocentric Ethics," Poster Presentation at the Conference on
Ecology, Theology, and Judeo-Christian Environmental Ethics (University of Notre
Dame, February 21-24, 2002).
"Quinn's Kierkegaard: Some Questions about Neighbor-Love and Divine Commands,"
presented at the Kierkegaard Society Group Session during the Eastern Division
Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Atlanta, GA, Dec.28,
2001).
"Killing by Letting-Die: Distinctions in the Euthanasia Debate," presented at
the Pacific Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association
(San Francisco CA, April 1, 2001).
"Kierkegaard, Anxiety, and the Will," presented by invitation at the
Kierkegaard Research Seminar (August 16-18, 2000), hosted by the Søren
Kierkegaard Research Center and Copenhagen University, Denmark.
"Remarks on Responsibility and Control: the New Theory of Moderate
Reasons-Responsiveness," Pacific Division meeting of the American
Philosophical Association, (Albuquerque, NM, April 5-8, 2000).
"Fact/Value Distinctions and MacIntyre's Eudaimonism," to be presented at the
Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association
(Boston, MA, Dec.28, 1999)
"Kierkegaard and MacIntyre: Complementary Existential Philosophies," to be
presented at the Kierkegaard Society Group Session during the Eastern Division
Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Boston, MA, Dec.27,
1999).
"Heidegger's Phenomenological Argument Against Representationalism," to be
presented at the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical
Association (Los Angeles, CA, March 25-28, 1998).
"An Existentialist Theory of Volition: The Paradoxes of Autonomy Resolved in a
Freedom without Arbitrariness," presented at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Philadelphia, PA, December, 1997).
"Piety, Ballard, and MacIntyre: A Recent Debate on Kierkegaardian Choice,"
presented at the Kierkegaard Society Meeting during the Eastern APA
conference (Philadelphia, PA, December, 1997).
"Buber's I-Thou Relation as Neighbor-Love," presented at the annual meeting of
the Society for Phenomenological and Existential Philosophy [SPEP]
(University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, October, 1997).
"'Entangled Freedom:' Original Sin and the Aesthetic-Ethical Transition in
Kierkegaard's Concept of Anxiety," presented at the International
Kierkegaard Conference (St. Olaf College, MN, June 7-10, 1997).
"Eschatological Ultimacy and the Best Possible Hereafter," presented at the
biennial meeting of the Society For Ultimate Reality and Meaning
(University of Toronto, August 26, 1997).
"Churchland's 'Rediscovery' of Analogy-Argument Fallacies: The Irreducibility of
Prereflective Self-Awareness," presented at the Pacific Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Berkeley, CA, March, 1997).
"Conditions for Freedom of the Higher-Order Will: Frankfurt and Augustine,"
presented at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical
Association, (Atlanta, GA, December 28, 1996).
"Levinas's Face-to-Face Relation as Agape: the Problem of Absolute Passivity and
the Other as Eschatological Hierophany," presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Phenomenological and Existential Philosophy [SPEP]
(Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., October, 1996).
"The Absolute as Eschaton in Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling," presented
at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association,
(New York, December 29, 1995).
"A Modal Interpretation of Eschatology," presented at the Society For
Ultimate Reality and Meaning (University of Toronto, August 17, 1995).
"The Moral 'Ought implies Can' Principle & the Antinomy of Libertarianism: A
Response to Professor Sterba," presented at the Twelfth International Social
Philosophy Conference (Waterville, Maine, August 10, 1995).
"Putting 'Mad Dog' Modal Realism to Sleep: A Critique of David Lewis's
Metaphysics," presented at the Indiana Philosophical Conference (Depauw
University, November 5, 1994).
"Alan Donagan's Consequentialist Arguments Against Consequentialism," presented
at the conference on The Moral Philosophy of Alan Donagan (University of
Notre Dame, April 16, 1994). [by blind review]
"Nehamas and the Case for 'Homonymic' Participation in Plato," presented at the Sixteenth Annual Graduate Student Philosophy Conference (University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, April 8-9, 1994).
INVITED LECTURES & REPLIES
"Reply to Steven Viner on Just War and the Treatment of Guantanamo
Prisoners." Presented at the Central Division meeting of the APA
(Chicago, IL: May 29, 2006)
"Good and Evil in Fantasy Literature and Film." Delivered at Caldwell College,
Caldwell NJ (March 29, 2006).
"Just War and Global Justice: A Reply to Jean Elshtain." Natural
Law Colloquium, Fordham University Law School (Sept. 8, 2004).
"Philosophy in Fantasy Literature and Film," South Orange-Maplewood Adult School
(February, 2004).
"Does the Good End Justify and Evil Means? Problems with Utilitarianism," South
Orange-Maplewood Adult School (Nov. 3, 2003).
Comments on Gerard Bradley, "Retribution: The Forgotten End of Punishment,"
Natural Law Colloquium, Fordham University Law School (April 2003).
Replies to Merold Westphal and Norman Lillegard, Kierkegaard Society Group
Session during the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical
Association (Philadelphia, PA, December 2002).
"Eberle on Religious War and the Separation of Church and State" invited comment
delivered at the Wheaton Philosophy Conference, October 2002.
"The Right to Historical Genetic Uniqueness and other Arguments Against
Reproductive Cloning," delivered at Caldwell College, Caldwell NJ, October 8,
2002.
Reply to Babette Babich, delivered September 30, 2002, at Fordham University.
"Philosophical Problems with Cloning and Genetic Engineering," delivered at the
Induction Ceremony for Phi Sigma Tau, Fordham University, May 10, 2002.
"Time and Responsibility: Neighbor-Love and History." Four talks exploring
dimensions of agape ethics in applied political contexts, given by invitation at
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, New York (January 2002).
"Reply to James Marsh," delivered September 2001 at Fordham University.
"Edwards, Free Will, and Eschatology: Comments on Andrew Reck's 'Jonathan
Edwards on Ultimate Reality and Meaning,'"given at the biennial meeting of the
Society For Ultimate Reality and Meaning (University of Toronto, August
27, 1997).
TELEVISION & RADIO APPEARANCES
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.
WORKS IN PROGRESS. Drafts
of some of these papers are available on
my personal
pages.
Autonomy and Authenticity: An Existential
Theory. This is my next book project, based on the second half of my
dissertation and other conference presentations. It uses the theory of
motivation developed in Will as Commitment and Resolve to solve the
problems of a hierarchical account of personal autonomy.
"A Global Federalist Paper: The Need for a New Federation of Democracies."
"Frankfurt on 'Bullshit:' A Comparison With Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre."
Democracy Beyond Nationalism: Transnational Identity and Universalism in the
Political Philosophy of Jürgen Habermas.
Revelation-Excluding Public Reason vs Radical Inclusivism: A
Deliberative-Democratic Response to Quinn and Wolterstorff.
The Phenomenological Critique of Representationalism: Husserl's and Heidegger's
Arguments for a Qualified Realism (this is the full version of the paper slated
for presentation at the Pacific APA, March 1998).
Identification and Bad Faith: Combining Frankfurtian and Sartrean Insights.
Democracy Beyond Nationalism: Transnational Identity and Universalism in the
Political Philosophy of Jürgen Habermas
An Existentialist Critique of Molinism: Freedom and Middle-Knowledge
History and the Origin of Religion: A Heideggerian Critique of Hans Blumenberg's
Work on Myth
A Philosophical Critique of Psychological Personality-Type Theories:
Myers-Briggs, Esyenck, and Jung
From Autonomous Motivation to a Formal Criterion of Right: The Most Important
Gap in Kant's Deduction of the Categorical Imperative
An Interpretation of Kant's "Refutation of Idealism"
Rawls's Priority of Liberty and Difference Principles: A Deliberative-
Democratic Critique.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Fordham University: Fall 1998 - Spring 2007
Modern Ethical Theories (masters seminar): Spring 2007
Personal Autonomy (doctoral seminar): Fall 2006
Lincoln: Democratic Values (honors senior values seminar): Fall 2006
Philosophy of Human Nature (core course): Spring 2006
Logic and Critical Thinking (undergraduate elective): Fall 2005
Philosophy of Emotions (undergraduate elective): Fall 2005
Kierkegaard (graduate seminar): Spring 2005
Fantasy and Philosophy (senior values seminar): Spring 2005
Free Will (majors seminar): Spring 2005
[on sabattical Fall 2004]
Theories of Autonomy (senior majors
seminar): Spring 2004
Environmental Ethics (Senior Values core): Spring 2004
Philosophical Ethics (core course): Spring 2004
Care and Commitment (graduate seminar): Fall 2003
Contemporary Ethical Theory (senior majors seminar): Fall 2003
Honors Philosophy (core course): Fall 2003
Modern Ethical Theory (graduate seminar): Spring 2003
Fantasy and Philosophy (new Senior Values core): Spring 2003
Fantasy and Philosophy (majors seminar version): Spring 2003
Honors Philosophy (core course): Fall 2002
Modern Philosophy I (majors elective): Fall 2002
Philosophy of Religion (elective): Summer 2002
Virtue Ethics (graduate seminar): Spring 2002
Logic and Critical Thinking (new elective): Spring 2002
Environmental Ethics (Senior Values core): Spring 2002
Character and Commitment (new elective): Fall 2001
Philosophy of Human Nature (2 core sections): Fall 2001
Modern Philosophy I: Spring 2001
Freedom and Responsibility (graduate seminar): Spring 2001
Philosophical Ethics (1 section): Spring 2001
Environmental Ethics: Fall 2000
Philosophical Ethics (1 section): Fall 2000
Philosophical Ethics: summer 2000
Philosophy of Emotion: Spring 2000
Philosophical Ethics (2 sections): Spring 2000
Justice and Social Identity (Senior Values Seminar): Fall 1999
Philosophical Ethics (2 sections): Fall 1999
Philosophy of Human Nature: First Summer Session, 1999
Values in Democracy (Senior Values Seminar): Spring 1999
Philosophical Ethics (2 sections): Spring 1999
Philosophical Ethics (1 section): Fall 1998
Philosophy of Human Nature (2 sections): Fall 1998
University of Notre Dame: Fall 1993 - Fall 1998
Instructor for Existentialist Themes (Phil. 222), Spring 1998
My syllabus included works by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, selections from
Heidegger, and shorter articles to put these writers in context.
Instructor for Introduction to Philosophy (Phil 201), Fall, 1995
Instructor for Introduction to Philosophy (Phil 201), Spring 1996
My syllabus both semesters covered a selection of ancient, medieval, modern, and
contemporary writings on moral psychology, personal identity, freedom and
determinism, and self-consciousness.
Teaching Assistant for Philosophy of Law, Spring 95
Teaching Assistant for Philosophical Reflections on Christian Belief, Fall 94
Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Philosophy (Phil 101) Spring 94.
Grader for Philosophy and Fantasy, Fall Semester, 93.
Indiana University at South Bend: Fall 1993
Adjunct Instructor, Introduction to Philosophy (evening course).
This course was historically oriented and focused on the debate between innatist
and empiricist theories of knowledge in the history of philosophy.
(Syllabi and evaluations for these courses are available on request).
NON-TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Dissertation Fellowship, Fall 1997
Research Assistant to the Chairman, Fall 1996 - Spring 1997
University Graduate Fellowship, Fall 1992 - Spring 1993
REFERENCES (General)
Harry G. Frankfurt, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Princeton University.
John M. Fischer, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside.
C. Stephan Evans, Professor of Philosophy, Baylor University.
Edward Mooney, Department of Philosophy, Syracuse University.
Jamie Ferreira, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia.
Dieter Sturma, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, Universität Essen, Germany.
REFERENCES (Notre Dame)
Karl Ameriks, Hank-McMahon Professor of Philosophy: 574-631-7951.
David Solomon, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Ethics and
Culture: 574-631-9695.
Stephen H. Watson, Professor: 574-631-6471.
James P. Sterba, Professor of Philosophy: 631-5231.
John Robinson, Professor of Law: 631-5913.
Paul Weithman, Professor and Chair: 574-631-7579
CV last updated July 6, 2006. |
