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Jonathan Dancy

Jonathan Dancy (born 8 May 1946) is a British philosopher renowned for his influential work in ethics and epistemology, particularly his development of moral particularism, which posits that moral judgments do not rely on general principles but on the specific features of particular situations.^[1]^[2] He has also made significant contributions to the philosophy of action, normativity, and the theory of reasons, emphasizing the role of practical reasoning in ethical decision-making.^[3] Elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2016, Dancy is recognized as a leading figure in contemporary moral philosophy.^[2] Dancy's academic career spans several prestigious institutions. He earned his B.A. and B.Phil. in philosophy from Oxford University in 1969 and 1971, respectively, before beginning his teaching career as a lecturer at the University of Keele in 1971, where he rose to become Head of the Philosophy Department by 1992.^[4] From 1996 to 2011, he served as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading, including as Research Professor from 2004 onward, and since 2005, he has held a part-time professorship at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is now Professor Emeritus and Darrell K. Royal Professor of Ethics and American Society.^[1]^[2] He has also held visiting positions at institutions such as the University of Pittsburgh and All Souls College, Oxford.^[4] Dancy's major publications include An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology (1985), which explores foundational issues in knowledge and justification; Moral Reasons (1993), a seminal defense of his particularist approach to ethical reasoning; Practical Reality (2000), addressing the metaphysics of practical thought; Ethics Without Principles (2004), further elaborating on moral particularism; and Practical Shape (2018), examining the structure of reasons for action.^[3]^[1] His work challenges traditional rule-based ethics and has influenced debates in metaethics, disjunctivism in perception, and Kantian themes in practical philosophy.^[3]

Life and Career

Early Life and Education

Jonathan Dancy was born on 8 May 1946 in Oxford, England. His father, John Christopher Dancy, was a classicist who taught at Wadham College, Oxford, while completing his own degree interrupted by World War II, and later served as headmaster of Marlborough College, fostering an environment rich in classical scholarship. His mother, Angela Dancy (née Bryant), worked in youth clubs and eventually became chair of the National Association of Youth Clubs, contributing to social welfare efforts that emphasized community and personal development. This familial immersion in education and social work profoundly shaped Dancy's early intellectual curiosity, particularly in languages and humanities; he began studying Latin at the age of four and French at five, laying a strong foundation for his academic pursuits.^[5] Dancy's secondary education took place at Winchester College, one of England's oldest public schools, founded in the late 14th century, where he attended as a scholar from 1959 to 1964 after winning a scholarship at age twelve. During his time there, he excelled academically and extracurricularly, serving as head boy in his final year and playing cricket for the school team, experiences that honed his leadership skills and appreciation for disciplined intellectual endeavor. Following Winchester, Dancy undertook a gap year as a volunteer with Voluntary Service Overseas in Cameroon from 1964 to 1965, where he taught English and coached football, gaining early practical teaching experience in a diverse cultural context that broadened his worldview before university.^[5] In 1965, Dancy entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, to study Greats—a rigorous curriculum encompassing classics, ancient history, and philosophy—earning a double first-class honors degree (BA) in 1969. He then pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, completing a BPhil in philosophy in 1971 with distinction, a program that deepened his engagement with ethical and epistemological questions and marked his transition toward a specialized philosophical focus. This early academic training, building on his classical roots, provided the rigorous analytical framework that would define his later contributions to moral philosophy.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Professional Positions

Jonathan Dancy began his academic career as Lecturer in Classical Philosophy at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1970 to 1971.^[4] In 1971, he joined the University of Keele as Lecturer in Philosophy, advancing through the ranks to Senior Lecturer from 1987 to 1989, Reader from 1989 to 1991, and Professor of Philosophy from 1991 to 1996.^[4] During this period, he served as Head of the Philosophy Department from 1992 to 1996.^[4] From 1996 to 2004, Dancy held the position of Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading, where he contributed to the development of its philosophy program as a senior faculty member.^[4] He then transitioned to Research Professor of Philosophy at the same institution, serving until 2011.^[4]^[2] In 2005, Dancy joined the University of Texas at Austin as Professor of Philosophy on a half-time basis, later appointed as the Darrell K. Royal Professor of Ethics and American Society.^[4]^[2] By 2023, he had become Professor Emeritus while continuing to teach a short graduate class each spring semester.^[1] Beyond academia, Dancy made a notable media appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 1, 2010, discussing philosophy in a public forum.^[8]

Awards and Recognition

Jonathan Dancy was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2016, an honor that acknowledges his distinguished scholarship in moral philosophy and the philosophy of action.^[2] Earlier, he served as President of the Aristotelian Society from 1994 to 1995, presiding over one of the oldest philosophical organizations in the English-speaking world.^[9] In 2014, Corpus Christi College, Oxford—his alma mater—elected him an Honorary Fellow in recognition of his eminent career.^[10] Dancy's editorial contributions have also garnered acclaim. He edited scholarly editions of George Berkeley's key texts, including A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge for the Oxford Philosophical Texts series, enhancing accessibility to eighteenth-century philosophy.^[11] For his co-editorship of A Companion to Epistemology (1992), he received a High Commendation in the Library Association's McColvin Medal competition in 1993, highlighting the reference work's impact on philosophical scholarship.^[12] Since 2011, Dancy has held the Darrell K. Royal Professorship in Ethics and American Society at the University of Texas at Austin, a named chair reflecting his expertise in ethical theory.^[2] In 2023, he presented the Pufendorf Lectures at Lund University, delivering a series titled "The Metaphysics of Reasons," which addressed fundamental questions in practical philosophy.^[13] The breadth of his influence is further demonstrated by over 1,200 citations across his 19 major works on ResearchGate, shaping ongoing debates in epistemology, ethics, and the philosophy of action.^[14]

Philosophical Contributions

Epistemology

Jonathan Dancy's early contributions to contemporary epistemology are prominently featured in his 1985 textbook An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology, which provides a systematic overview of major debates in the field, including skepticism, the nature of knowledge, and theories of justification. In this work, Dancy critically examines foundationalism, arguing that its reliance on basic beliefs fails to adequately address the regress problem in justification, as such beliefs cannot independently secure epistemic warrant without circularity.^[15] He similarly critiques coherentism, particularly its weak variants, for collapsing into a form of foundationalism when attempting to incorporate empirical constraints, thereby undermining its claim to provide a non-foundational account of justified belief.^[15] These analyses position Dancy as a key interlocutor in the internalism-externalism debate, emphasizing the limitations of traditional internalist approaches to justification.^[16] Dancy advocates for externalism in the attribution of knowledge, contending that epistemic justification need not be accessible to the subject's reflective awareness but can depend on external factors such as reliability or causal relations to the environment.^[17] In his book, he explores this view through discussions of internalism and externalism, suggesting that externalist theories better accommodate everyday knowledge ascriptions by allowing factors like perceptual reliability to confer warrant without requiring introspective access.^[18] This stance aligns with his broader normative epistemology, where he defends externalism as a means to resolve tensions in the regress argument and to counter skeptical challenges without resorting to overly restrictive internalist constraints.^[15] Dancy's externalist leanings are further elaborated in his 1992 paper "Externalism for Internalists," where he proposes a hybrid approach that incorporates external reliability while preserving some internalist intuitions about epistemic responsibility.^[19] A significant aspect of Dancy's epistemological scholarship is his edited volume Perceptual Knowledge (1988), which compiles and analyzes seminal essays on the role of perception as a direct source of knowledge.^[20] In the introduction and accompanying commentary, Dancy argues that perceptual experiences can justify beliefs non-inferentially, challenging causal theories of perception by highlighting how direct realism avoids the intermediary veils posited by representationalist accounts.^[21] This work also contributes to the development of disjunctivism in philosophy of perception, where veridical perceptions differ fundamentally from illusions and hallucinations, allowing direct epistemic access in successful cases. He draws on contributions from philosophers such as Alvin Goldman and John McDowell to defend the view that perceptual knowledge is foundational yet fallible, capable of grounding broader epistemic structures without succumbing to skepticism about the external world.^[22] This work underscores Dancy's emphasis on perception's epistemic primacy, integrating externalist elements to explain how sensory contact yields justified true beliefs.^[23] Dancy's epistemological framework extends briefly to moral epistemology, where he explores the possibility of intuitive knowledge of moral facts, aligning with epistemic intuitionism to argue that moral beliefs can be justified directly without empirical mediation.^[24] This tie-in maintains that awareness of moral truths parallels perceptual knowledge, relying on externalist reliability in moral perception to attribute warrant to such intuitions.^[25]

Ethics and Moral Particularism

Jonathan Dancy is a leading proponent of moral particularism, the philosophical position that moral reasons are inherently context-sensitive and that there are no defensible universal moral principles to guide ethical judgment. In this view, moral thought and deliberation do not rely on applying general rules but instead involve assessing the specific features of individual situations to determine what one ought to do. Dancy defends particularism against generalist alternatives, such as consequentialism or deontology, by arguing that moral principles fail to capture the nuanced, variable nature of ethical reasons.^[26] In his 1993 book Moral Reasons, Dancy develops key arguments against principle-based ethics, emphasizing the distinction between contributory reasons—factors that count in favor of or against an action in a given context—and overall reasons, which represent the balance of all relevant considerations to yield a final verdict on what to do. He contends that ethical realism, the idea that there are objective moral facts, is compatible with particularism, as moral properties supervene on non-moral features without requiring general principles to explain their presence. Dancy critiques consequentialist theories for reducing all moral reasons to outcomes, ignoring the diverse, non-aggregative ways in which reasons interact, and he uses examples like promises or loyalty to illustrate how a single feature can shift moral valence depending on surrounding circumstances.^[27] Dancy's 2004 work Ethics Without Principles provides a comprehensive defense of particularism, building on his earlier ideas while addressing criticisms, including his own prior sympathies toward generalism. Here, he argues that principles are superfluous for moral reasoning, serving merely as "dormitive virtues" that explain nothing about why actions are right or wrong. The book responds to objections by showing that particularists can reliably discern moral reasons without codified rules, and it extends the critique to metaethical debates by affirming moral realism without foundational principles.^[26] Central to Dancy's particularism is holism in the theory of reasons, the doctrine that the polarity or relevance of a reason—whether it supports, opposes, or is irrelevant to an action—depends entirely on its contextual embedding rather than any intrinsic property. A consideration that functions as a reason in one situation may have no bearing or even the opposite effect in another, undermining the search for exceptionless principles. This holism extends beyond morality to practical reasoning more broadly.^[28] Dancy's particularism has influenced metaethics, particularly through his defense of realism about moral properties, as articulated in his 1981 paper "On Moral Properties." There, he explores how moral properties result from non-moral ones without being reducible to them, supporting a non-naturalist realism that aligns with particularist flexibility in ethical deliberation. This work challenges supervenience arguments for generalism by allowing moral facts to vary contextually without principled uniformity.^[29]

Philosophy of Action and Reasons

Jonathan Dancy's contributions to the philosophy of action and reasons center on the distinction between motivating and normative reasons, emphasizing how practical thought operates independently from theoretical reasoning. In his 2000 book Practical Reality, Dancy challenges the orthodox view that intentions function as beliefs about what one should do, arguing instead that intentions shape practical thought in a distinct manner, without reducing to psychological states like belief. He contends that the reason for which an agent acts (the motivating reason) need not coincide with a normative reason for that action, rejecting the idea that practical inference necessarily bridges beliefs to action in a straightforward way. This framework posits that facts in the world, rather than internal states, primarily guide action, thereby highlighting the "practical shape" of reasoning as oriented toward doing rather than knowing.^[30] Building on these ideas, Dancy's 2018 work Practical Shape: A Theory of Practical Reasoning develops a neo-Aristotelian account of how reasons directly guide action without requiring intermediary psychological commitments like full-formed intentions. He argues that practical reasoning mirrors theoretical reasoning in its structure but culminates in action itself, allowing reasons to exert normative force on what one does, much as evidence shapes belief. Central to this theory is the "primacy of the practical," where acting responds focalistically to worldly considerations, enabling reasoning to issue in immediate behavioral change rather than mere propositional adjustment. Dancy thus establishes that practical thought is minimalist, relying on the world's provision of reasons without elaborate internal representation. In 2021, he published Practical Thought: Essays on Reasons, Intuition, and Action, a collection that further explores these themes through selected essays spanning his career.^[31]^[32] Dancy extends his holism of reasons—originally prominent in moral contexts—to general practical reasoning, maintaining that reasons are inherently context-dependent and capable of varying in valence across situations. A consideration that serves as a reason for action in one scenario may be neutral or even oppose the action in another, due to the holistic interplay of all relevant factors; this "shifting polarity" underscores that practical reasons cannot be atomized but must be assessed within their full contextual web. This view applies broadly to non-moral actions, such as decisions in everyday deliberation, where no fixed principles dictate reasonhood independently of surrounding circumstances. By generalizing holism, Dancy critiques rigid models of practical rationality, including enkratic requirements that demand alignment between one's judgments of ought and one's intentions, arguing that such norms impose artificial constraints on the fluid nature of reason-responsiveness in action. He has also applied disjunctivist ideas to action, arguing in works like "On How to Act—Disjunctively" (2008) that successful actions for reasons differ in kind from mere attempts, paralleling perceptual disjunctivism.^[33] Dancy's editorial role further amplifies his influence in the philosophy of action, as co-editor of the 2015 anthology Philosophy of Action, which compiles seminal essays from the 1960s onward to explore core debates on motivation, intention, and agency. The collection, arranged thematically with introductory analyses, underscores Dancy's commitment to clarifying how reasons integrate with volition, providing a comprehensive resource for understanding action as a domain of normative guidance distinct from epistemic norms. Through these efforts, Dancy's work reshapes practical philosophy by prioritizing the world's direct solicitation of action over psychologized interpretations of rationality.

Personal Life and Legacy

Family

Jonathan Dancy married Sarah Birley in 1973, whom he met at the end of his first year as a lecturer at the University of Keele.^[5] Sarah Dancy later earned a double first-class degree from Keele in her late thirties and has worked as an editor for academic presses, specializing in philosophy.^[5] The couple has three children. Their eldest son, Hugh Dancy (born 1975), is a well-known actor based in New York City.^[34] Their second son, Jack Dancy, runs a travel company and resides in Burgundy, France, with his family.^[5]^[35] Their daughter, Kate Redman, works in communications for UNESCO and lives in Paris with her family.^[5]^[36] In 1996, Dancy's family considerations influenced a significant career move when he left his position as head of the philosophy department at the University of Keele to become Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading, relocating southward in England to be closer to family.^[5]

Influence and Later Work

Jonathan Dancy's election as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2016 underscores his prominent standing in contemporary philosophy, particularly in ethics and epistemology, as the academy recognizes leading scholars in the humanities and social sciences for their outstanding contributions.^[2] This honor highlights the enduring impact of his work on moral reasoning and normativity, affirming his role as a key figure in shaping analytical philosophy.^[37] Following his retirement, Dancy has continued as Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches part-time graduate classes each academic year, focusing on advanced topics in ethics and practical reasoning.^[1] His post-retirement activities include contributions to scholarly volumes and public lectures; for instance, in 2021, he published Practical Thought: Essays on Reason, Intuition, and Action, a collection refining his views on deliberation and agency, and in 2023, he delivered the Pufendorf Lectures at Lund University on themes in moral theory and epistemology.^[1]^[38]^[13] More recently, as of 2025, Dancy has co-edited Lectures on Ethics 1946 by P.F. Strawson (Oxford University Press) and contributed to the third edition of A Companion to Epistemology (Wiley).^[39]^[40] These engagements demonstrate his ongoing involvement in philosophical discourse through updated explorations of reasons and normativity. Dancy's broader influence is evident in his foundational role in moral particularism, a position that has shaped debates by challenging traditional generalism and inspiring subsequent work on context-sensitivity in moral judgment.^[41] His seminal text Ethics Without Principles (2004) has influenced scholars in moral philosophy who extend particularist ideas to topics like practical rationality and value pluralism.^[42] In his later years, Dancy has shifted emphasis toward the philosophy of action, particularly the structure of practical reasoning and the role of ignorance in deliberation, as explored in his 2018 monograph Practical Shape: On the Structure of Practical Reasoning.^[1] This work builds on earlier themes by examining how reasons guide action without fixed rules, addressing gaps in understanding normativity through analyses of intuitive decision-making and non-propositional knowledge.^[43] Such contributions continue to inform discussions on agency and ethical ignorance, with potential extensions in emerging papers on acting under uncertainty.^[44]

Selected Works

Books as Author

Jonathan Dancy's first major monograph, An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology (Blackwell, 1985), provides a comprehensive overview of key debates in epistemology, including skepticism, theories of justification, and accounts of knowledge.^[45] It organizes complex material accessibly for students, emphasizing foundational and coherentist approaches to epistemic justification.^[46] The book has been widely used as a textbook, influencing introductory teaching in analytic epistemology.^[47] In Berkeley: An Introduction (Blackwell, 1987), Dancy offers an analytic examination of George Berkeley's idealism, focusing on the main themes in Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. Assuming no prior philosophical knowledge, it presents a fresh interpretation of Berkeley's immaterialism and arguments against materialism, making it suitable for undergraduate readers.^[48] The work highlights Berkeley's influence on empiricism and perception theory.^[49] Moral Reasons (Blackwell, 1993) defends a realist account of ethics by exploring the nature of moral reasons, distinguishing between contributory reasons that can vary in context and the absence of overarching principles.^[50] Dancy argues that moral knowledge arises from particular cases rather than general rules, laying groundwork for his particularist views.^[51] It addresses why moral differences matter and how we learn from moral experience, impacting debates in metaethics.^[52] Practical Reality (Oxford University Press, 2000) investigates the distinction between motivating reasons (psychological states) and normative reasons for action, contending that the latter are not reducible to the former.^[30] Dancy critiques internalist theories, proposing that intentions differ from beliefs in guiding practical thought.^[53] The book advances philosophy of action by emphasizing the independence of normative reasons from agent psychology.^[54] Ethics Without Principles (Oxford University Press, 2004) serves as the definitive exposition of moral particularism, arguing that ethical reasoning does not rely on general principles but on context-sensitive reasons.^[26] Dancy challenges the traditional view that morality requires rule-based structures, using examples to show how reasons can switch valence across situations.^[55] It has become a cornerstone text in ethical theory, prompting extensive discussion on particularism's implications.^[56] Practical Shape: A Theory of Practical Reasoning (Oxford University Press, 2018) develops an Aristotelian framework for understanding practical reasoning as directly yielding actions, rather than intermediate beliefs or intentions.^[31] It explores the "shape" of practical thought—the configuration of relevant considerations—and contrasts it with theoretical reasoning.^[57] The book synthesizes Dancy's earlier work on reasons, offering a unified theory of how normative considerations guide behavior. Dancy's most recent book, Practical Thought: Essays on Reasons, Intuition, and Action (Oxford University Press, 2021), is a collection of twenty-four essays spanning his career since the late 1970s, focusing on themes in practical reasoning, moral particularism, and the philosophy of action.^[32]

Edited Books and Anthologies

Jonathan Dancy has made significant contributions to philosophy through his editorial work, compiling anthologies that gather influential essays and proceedings on key topics in epistemology, ethics, normativity, and action theory. His edited volumes often serve as essential resources for scholars, providing curated selections that highlight ongoing debates and foundational texts. Perceptual Knowledge (Oxford University Press, 1988) is an anthology that assembles classic and contemporary papers exploring the relationship between perception and knowledge, addressing issues such as the reliability of sensory experience and foundationalism in epistemology.^[21] This collection underscores Dancy's early interest in perceptual epistemology, featuring contributions from prominent thinkers to illuminate how perceptual beliefs contribute to justified knowledge.^[58] In Reading Parfit (Blackwell, 1997), Dancy edited a series of critical essays responding to Derek Parfit's Reasons and Persons (1984), with a focus on its implications for ethical theory, personal identity, and rational choice.^[59] The volume includes analyses from leading ethicists, offering diverse perspectives on Parfit's reductionist views and their impact on moral philosophy.^[60] Dancy's Normativity (Blackwell, 2000) compiles papers from the 1998 Ratio conference, examining the nature of normative concepts across ethics, epistemology, and practical reason.^[61] Contributors such as John Broome, Christopher Hookway, and Frank Jackson address questions about the sources and authority of norms, making it a pivotal resource for understanding normativity's role in philosophical inquiry.^[62] Dancy's engagement with George Berkeley's philosophy extends to his editorial role in producing scholarly editions for the Oxford Philosophical Texts series during the late 1980s and 1990s. He edited A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (Oxford University Press, 1998), providing an introduction that contextualizes Berkeley's immaterialism and critiques of materialism, along with textual notes to aid interpretation.^[11] Similarly, his edition of Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (Oxford University Press, 1997) includes annotations and an editorial preface that elucidates Berkeley's arguments against skepticism and for idealism through dialogic form.^[63] These editions have become standard references for studying Berkeley's epistemology and metaphysics. Co-edited with Constantine Sandis, Philosophy of Action: An Anthology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015) curates key essays on contemporary action theory, covering topics like intentionality, reasons for action, and free will.^[64] Thematically organized, it draws from historical and modern sources to provide a broad overview of debates in the philosophy of action, emphasizing practical rationality.^[65]

Key Articles

Jonathan Dancy's key articles represent pivotal interventions in moral philosophy, epistemology, and the philosophy of action, often challenging established frameworks through innovative arguments about reasons, properties, and particularism. His work emphasizes the context-sensitivity of moral and practical reasoning, influencing ongoing debates in these fields. In his early article "On Moral Properties" (1981), published in Mind, Dancy defends a form of moral realism by arguing that moral properties are "resultant" properties, emerging from the non-moral features of a situation without being reducible to them or supervening in a strict sense. He critiques supervenience accounts, proposing instead that moral verdicts "result from" the totality of relevant non-moral properties, allowing for moral realism while avoiding metaphysical overcommitment.^[29] This piece laid foundational groundwork for Dancy's later explorations of moral ontology, highlighting how moral properties contribute to ethical deliberation without universal principles. Dancy's "Moral Particularism," first published in 2001 and last substantially revised in 2017 in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, provides a seminal overview and defense of moral particularism, the view that moral reasons and principles are not exceptionless but depend on the specific contours of individual situations. He argues against moral generalism by demonstrating that what counts as a reason in one context may fail to do so in another due to "reasons holism," where the valence of a consideration varies holistically. This entry has shaped contemporary ethics by articulating particularism's implications for moral education, judgment, and theory, with updates reflecting evolving critiques.^[41] Addressing critiques of internalism in practical rationality, Dancy's encyclopedia entry "Reasons, Internal and External" (2013), in The International Encyclopedia of Ethics, examines the debate over whether reasons for action must be grounded in an agent's motivational set (internalism) or can be independent (externalism). He critiques Bernard Williams's internalist framework, advocating for external reasons as objective features that can guide rational action without motivational preconditions, thereby supporting a realist account of practical rationality. This work extends Dancy's broader arguments against psychologism in reasons, influencing discussions on motivation and normativity.^[66] In "Précis of Practical Reality" (2003), appearing in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Dancy summarizes the core theses of his book Practical Reality (2000), focusing on his theory of action where the reasons for which agents act are not psychological states but objective, non-psychological facts that explain and justify behavior. He defends the idea that motivating reasons coincide with normative reasons, rejecting Humean-inspired divides and emphasizing the role of value in practical deliberation. This précis encapsulates Dancy's anti-psychologistic approach to action theory, clarifying how reasons function in both explanation and rationality. More recently, in "Acting in Ignorance" (2011), published in Frontiers of Philosophy in China, Dancy explores the conditions under which agents can act for a reason they do not know to obtain, arguing that practical reasoning does not require full epistemic access to the facts constituting the reason. He contends that ignorance of certain details does not undermine the rationality of action if the agent responds appropriately to perceived considerations, challenging knowledge-based accounts of intentionality in philosophy of action. This article advances Dancy's ongoing interest in the epistemology of practical contexts, bridging action theory and epistemology.^[67]

References

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Jonathan Dancy | Liberal Arts | UT - Austin
I am Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, where I teach a short graduate class in the second semester each academic year.
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Professor Jonathan Dancy FBA | The British Academy
University of Reading Senior Research Professor of Philosophy · University of Texas at Austin Darrell K Royal Professor of Ethics and American Society.
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Professor Jonathan Dancy - Philosophy - University of Reading
Professor Dancy is the author of An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology, Moral Reasons, Berkeley: An Introduction, Practical Reality, and Ethics Without ...
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### Summary of Jonathan Dancy's Curriculum Vitae
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Jonathan Dancy, 1946-. icon for person and ... About Jonathan Dancy. Name. Jonathan Dancy (English language) ... Birth. 5/8/1946. Gender. male. Occupation/Role.
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JONATHAN DANCY - What Is It Like to Be a Philosopher?
Jan 12, 2017 · Jonathan Dancy, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, talks about cricket, ping pong, and squash, teaching English in French Cameroon.
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[PDF] corpus christi college the pelican record - University of Oxford
Morris (Engineering, 1964), Jonathan Dancy (Classics, 1965), Bill. Gunn ... After leaving Corpus Jon moved to London, where he studied. Tibetan Mahayana ...
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Self-Doubt and “Publish or Perish” - Daily Nous
Jan 12, 2017 · Dancy is far from the only philosopher to experience self-doubt. For some, it is the pressure of having to publish to get a job or get tenure that overcomes ...
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Jonathan Dancy on the Late Late Show> - College of Liberal Arts
Jun 17, 2010 · Thursday, June 17, 2010. Philosophy Professor Jonathan Dancy made an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 1, 2010.
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The Aristotelian Society ; 1995-96. chris_hookway. Christopher Hookway. University of Sheffield ; 1994-95. jonathan_dancy. Jonathan Dancy. UNIVERSITY of Reading ...
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This year the College conferred that honour on Professor Jonathan Dancy, for his distinction in contemporary philosophy; Geoff Dyer, for his achievements as ...
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A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. George Berkeley Edited by Jonathan Dancy. Oxford Philosophical Texts. $79.00.Missing: collected | Show results with:collected
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Head of Philosophy Department, University of Keele. 1996-2004. Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading. 2004-11: Research Professor of Philosophy, ...
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2023 Jonathan Dancy | Pufendorf lectures
Jonathan Dancy is currently Professor of Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin and Research Professor at the University of Reading.
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Jonathan Dancy's 19 research works with 1225 citations, including: Acting in ignorance.<|separator|>
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Sep 19, 2003 · coherentism into foundationalism. If so, we have as effective an argument against weak as against pure coherentism. Page 54. Ep&Meth (Notes).
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Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology - RBJones.com
by Jonathan Dancy ; 8.5, Coherentism and Empiricism ; Ch. 9, COHERENCE, JUSTIFICATION AND KNOWLEDGE ; 9.1, The Regress Argument ; 9.2, Internalism and Externalism.
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Some writers who have recently defended versions of moral epistemic intuitionism are Robert Audi (1997, 2004), Jonathan Dancy (1993), Brad Hooker (2000), and ...
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Jun 28, 2016 · Jonathan Dancy accepts versions of both the first and second thesis, and he accepts the second thesis in part because he accepts the first.
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Practical Reality is a lucid original study of the relation between the reasons why we do things and the reasons why we should. Jonathan Dancy maintains that ...
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Free delivery 25-day returnsPractical Shape is as stimulating a book of philosophy as one could hope for. It will be an invaluable resource to those interested in the nature of reasoning.Missing: summary | Show results with:summary
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Jul 12, 2024 · His mother Sarah Ann Dancy (née Birley) works in academic publishing, while his father Jonathan Dancy is a philosophy professor at the ...
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Jack Dancy – Co-Founder. Jack has more hobbies than fingers and toes. We stopped counting at 20, right after he told us he'd purchased an easel and beret.
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How it feels when your husband makes a murder podcast about ...
Feb 4, 2024 · ... John Dancy, Kate's great-grandfather and a beloved family patriarch ... JONATHAN DANCY. The story would have ended there had it not been ...
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British Academy announces new President and elects 66 new Fellows
Jul 15, 2016 · Professor Jonathan Dancy Senior Research Professor, University of Reading; Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin. Professor ...
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https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/british-academy-announces-new-president-and-elects-66-new-fellows/
[38]
Moral Particularism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Jun 6, 2001 · Moral particularism, at its most trenchant, is the claim that there are no defensible moral principles, that moral thought does not consist in the application ...
[39]
https://www.ebay.com/p/10073631981
[40]
Moral Particularism | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Jonathan Dancy (1999a, 2004), a chief proponent of moral particularism, responds to the supervenience argument by taking issue with P3. He contends that the ...Introduction · Absolute Moral Principlism... · Moral Particularists...
[41]
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-particularism/
[42]
Jonathan Dancy, Acting in ignorance - PhilPapers
Abstract. This paper considers and rejects the arguments that have been given in favour of the view that one can only act for the reason that p if one knows ...
[43]
Amazon.com: Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology
Amazon.com: Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology: 9780631136224: Dancy, Jonathan: Books. ... June 18, 1985. Language. English. Dimensions. 6 x 0.62 x 9 ...
[44]
Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology by Jonathan Dancy
Rating 3.8 (98) Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology. Jonathan Dancy. 3.81. 98 ratings ... First published January 15, 1985. Book details & editions. 22 people are ...
[45]
Note: Write-ups - Dancy - Contemporary Epistemology: Introduction ...
Sep 20, 2025 · This note provides my detailed review of "Dancy (Jonathan) - An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology: Introduction".
[46]
Berkeley, an Introduction: Dancy, Jonathan - Amazon.com
An introduction to the main ideas of George Berkeley's "Principles" and "Three Dialogues", this study offers a new interpretation of some of the main themes ...Missing: summary | Show results with:summary
[47]
Jonathan Dancy, Berkeley, an introduction - PhilPapers
This new introduction to the main themes of Berkeley′s philosophy assumes no previous knowlege of philosophy and will be accessible to first-year students ...
[48]
Jonathan Dancy, Moral reasons - PhilPapers
Jonathan Dancy. University of Texas at Austin. Citations of this work. The Unity of Grounding.Selim Berker - 2017 - Mind 127 (507):729-777. A clarification and ...
[49]
Moral Reasons by Jonathan Dancy | Goodreads
Rating 3.8 (10) It starts with a discussion of why we should mind about the difference between right and wrong, asks what account we should give of our ability to learn from ...Missing: summary | Show results with:summary
[50]
(PDF) Book Review:Moral Reasons. Jonathan Dancy - ResearchGate
Aug 9, 2025 · What is required for one thing to be a reason for another? Must the reason, more precisely, be or involve a principle?Missing: summary | Show results with:summary
[51]
Practical Reality by Jonathan Dancy - Goodreads
$$49.99 Rating 3.7 (18) Aug 3, 2000 · Practical Reality is a lucid original study of the relation between the reasons why we do things and the reasons why we should. Jonathan ...
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Jonathan Dancy, Practical Reality - PhilPapers
Practical Reality is a lucid original study of the relation between the reasons why we do things and the reasons why we should.<|control11|><|separator|>
[53]
Ethics without Principles - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Jul 9, 2005 · Jonathan Dancy, Ethics without Principles, Oxford University Press, 2004, 240pp, $45.00 (hbk), ISBN 0199270023. ... Circumstances alter cases; ...
[54]
ETHICS WITHOUT PRINCIPLES PAPER by Jonathan Dancy
Rating 3.8 (39) Ethics without Principles is the definitive presentation of particularist ethical theory, and will be required reading for all moral philosophers.Missing: summary | Show results with:summary
[55]
Practical Shape: A Theory of Practical Reasoning | Reviews
$$40.00Apr 4, 2019 · Jonathan Dancy's new book, which he says in the preface he intends to be his last, defends the idea that there is a “common core” to practical and theoretical ...
[56]
Perceptual Knowledge (Oxford Readings in Philosophy) - Softcover
Perceptual Knowledge (Oxford Readings in Philosophy). Dancy, J. Published by Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 10: 0198750749 ...
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Jonathan Dancy (ed.), Reading Parfit - PhilPapers
_ Reading Parfit _ brings together some of the most distinguished scholars in the field to discuss and critique Derek Parfit's outstanding work, ...
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Reading Parfit | Wiley
This is a volume for the reader who has been fascinated by the richness and complexity of Parfit and is looking for insightful, well-considered responses to it ...
[59]
Jonathan Dancy (ed.), Normativity - PhilPapers
This volume is built on the papers given at the 1998" Ratio" conference on normativity.Missing: publications | Show results with:publications
[60]
Normativity (Ratio Special Issues) by Jonathan Dancy - Goodreads
Rating 2.7 (3) This volume is built on the papers given at the 1998 Ratio conference on normativity. It contains papers by John Broome, Christopher Hookway, Frank Jackson, ...
[61]
Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous - George Berkeley
Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. George Berkeley Edited by Jonathan Dancy. Oxford Philosophical Texts. $79.00.
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Jonathan Dancy & Constantine Sandis (eds.), Philosophy of Action
_The Philosophy of Action: An Anthology_ is an authoritative collection of key work by top scholars, arranged thematically and accompanied by expert ...
[63]
Philosophy of Action: An Anthology - Wiley
Free delivery 30-day returnsPhilosophy of Action: An Anthology. Jonathan Dancy (Editor), Constantine Sandis (Editor). ISBN: 978-1-118-60451-9. February 2015. Wiley-Blackwell. 432 pages.
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Acting in ignorance | Frontiers of Philosophy in China
Aug 19, 2011 · Acting in ignorance. Research Article; Published: 19 August 2011. Volume 6, pages 345–357, (2011) ...