Robert Audi

Robert Audi (* November 1941 ) is an American analytic philosopher who on issues of ethics and practical , especially political philosophy (about the relationship between church and state ) and the epistemology , the philosophy of mind and the social sciences and the religious works .

Live and act

Audi studied at Colgate University (BA 1963 magna cum laude ) and the University of Michigan (MA 1965). Audi obtained his PhD in 1967 from the University of Michigan. He then had jobs as Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas (1967-1973) and at the University of Nebraska (1973-1976). Here he received a teaching position (1974–1977) and was appointed professor of philosophy (1976–2003). From 2003 to 2010 he taught at the University of Notre Dame Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Management, and David E. Gallo professor of business ethics , where he the Department of Business Ethics was co-opted. He then moved to the chair of John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Management.

Audi is known for the publication of the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (first edition 1995, second 1999). He also publishes the "Modern Readings in Epistemology" and "Modern readings in Metaphysics".

From 1987-88 Audi was President of the American Philosophical Association (Central Division) and President of the Society of Christian Philosophers. In 2016 he received the Philip L. Quinn Prize from the APA . He is also a fellow at the Australian Catholic University .

Teaching

Audi represents both epistemological and moral intuitionism . In its book “The Sources of Knowledge” Audi describes four direct sources of knowledge or justified beliefs, namely perception, memory, awareness (also: introspection) and reason. These sources are original, so not based on other sources. They are evident . Memory is an original source of justification, but otherwise only serves to preserve knowledge. Beliefs of other kinds are based on conclusions, which in turn can be based on conclusions, and so on. By accepting direct, intuitionistically accessible sources of knowledge, Audi avoids the problem of infinite recourse . Audi argues as follows:

1. If someone has knowledge, this is based on an epistemological chain of conclusions (in the special case possibly only with a link that comes from experience or reason)
2. Epistemological chains are either infinite, circular, or arbitrarily interrupted, or based on a belief based on an immediate source.
3. Knowledge can only arise in the last link in the chain.
4. It follows that only a belief based on an immediate source can produce knowledge.

For Audi, direct experience as the basis of a belief is suitable that such a belief can be true. Audi describes its epistemological position as fallibilistic fundamentalism because it admits that beliefs with regard to immediate knowledge can be wrong or that their justification is untenable.

Audi's book The Good in the Right , published in 2004, renews an intuitionist approach to ethics and develops an epistemology of ethical truths. With this, Audi tries to combine the concept of William David Ross with the ethics of Immanuel Kant .

Awards

• 2008: Albertus Magnus Professorship
• 2018: Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Works (selection)

• Means, Ends, and Persons. The Meaning and Psychological Dimensions of Kant's Humanity Formula, Oxford University Press, 2016 ( Review )
• Rational Belief: Structure, Grounds, and Intellectual Virtue. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2015 (collection of articles) ( Review )
• Reasons, Rights, and Values. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York 2015 (collection of articles)
• Naturalism, Normativity, and Explanation, Copernicus Center Press, Krakow 2014
• Moral Perception, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2013 ( Review )
• Democratic Authority and the Separation of Church and State, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2011 ( Review )
• Rationality and Religious Commitment, Clarendon Press, Oxford and New York 2011 ( Review ; Review ; Review Skelton )
• Business Ethics and Ethical Business, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2009
• Moral Value and Human Diversity, Oxford University Press 2006. ( Review ; PDF; 61 kB; Review ( Memento from September 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ))
• Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision, Routledge, London / New York 2006 ( Review )
• The Good in the Right: A Theory of Intuition and Intrinsic Value, Princeton University Press, Princeton / Oxford, 2004 ( Review ; Review ; Review ; Review )
• The Architecture of Reason: The Structure and Substance of Rationality, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2001 ( Review by Gilbert Harman ; Review ; Review ; Review )
• Religious Commitment and Secular Reason, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2000
• Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, Routledge, London / New York 1998 (2nd ed. 2003 (online) , 3rd ed. 2011)
• Moral Knowledge and Ethical Character, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 1997
• With Nicholas Wolterstorff : Religion in the Public Square: The Place of Religious Convictions in Political Debate, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD 1997
• Action, Intention, and Reason, Cornell University Press, Ithaca / London 1993
• The Structure of Justification, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 1993
• Practical Reasoning, Routledge, London / New York 1989 (2nd A. 2005)
• Belief, Justification, and Knowledge, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California 1988
• (Ed.): The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 1995 (2. A. 1999)
• With Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (ed.): Rationality, Rules, and Ideals: Critical Essays on Bernard Gert ’s Moral Theory, Rowman and Littlefield 2002
• With William Wainwright (ed.): Rationality, Religious Belief, and Moral Commitment: New Essays in the Philosophy of Religion, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1986

literature

• Bert Heinrichs: Moral intuitionism and ethical justification . mentis, Münster 2013, ISBN 978-3-89785-325-6 .
• Jill Graper Hernandez (Ed.): The New Intuitionism (with an introduction by Robert Audi). Bloomsbury Academic, New York 2012, ISBN 978-1-4411-5248-0 .
• Mark Timmons, John Greco, Alfred Mele: Rationality and the Good: Critical Essays on the Ethics and Epistemology of Robert Audi . Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-532602-4 .

Web links

• Homepage in Notre Dame, with bibliography
• Robert Audi: Rationality and the Good. An overview
• Robert Audi: Reliability as a Virtue (PDF; 54 kB)
• Robert Audi: Reason, Practical Reason, and Practical Reasing
• Robert Audi: Testimony as an a priori Basis of Acceptance: Problems and Prospects , Philosophica 78 (2006) 85-104
• Robert Audi: Normative Disagreement as a Challenge to Moral Philosophy and Philosophical Theology (manuscript)
• Robert Audi (General Editor): The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy , Second Edition, Cambridge University Press 1999
• Robert Audi Are there any limits of scientific explanation? (You Tube)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Philip L. Quinn Prize ( Memento from March 16, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) on the APA homepage
2. ↑ As an overview: Robert Audi: Contemporary Foundationalism