The conference was very well attended. That, unfortunately, was the end of my father’s legal career. Fred Feldman, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is widely recognized for his subtle defense of hedonistic consequentialism and for his plain-spoken and exact philosophical style. These were the objections deriving from the notion (in Rawls’s words) that utilitarianism “does not take seriously the distinction between persons”. What was the point of saying it in the first place? This is apparently equivalent to the question about individual welfare, or “well-being”. Accordingly, the theory would be a direct competitor to an egalitarian theory according to which there is perfect justice if everyone has the same level of welfare. Fred Feldman eBooks. But then a few years later she came down with leukemia – presumably a result of the long course of fruitless radiation. Phil Bricker, Brad Skow, Richard Feldman, Chris Heathwood, Kristian Olsen, Michael Zimmerman, and many other came forward to speak. The topic was something about the alleged incorrigibility of first-person introspective reports. Needless to say, I am tremendously proud of my brother. Of course I knew that “Ruthie” was Ruth Barcan Marcus; but I didn’t understand why it would be especially important to be careful what I said to her. He was slim, very fit, and remarkably good looking. by Fred Feldman (Author) See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. I thought that sensory hedonism is hopeless as a theory of personal welfare. In those days UMass had an undeniably strong faculty. I had a lot of ideas – some of them seemed worthy of follow-up. That paper was “Some Puzzles about the Evil of Death”, which was published in The Philosophical Review in 1991. 161 records for Fred Feldman. But since I knew very little Latin or Greek (there were no courses in ancient languages at Bard), I was not admitted to any classics department. He told me that the new Chairman at UMass – Bruce Aune – had been authorized to make several new appointments. Sometimes during the fall of 1968 Ruth and I would have lunch together at some concrete picnic tables--everything at Chicago Circle was made of concrete--that were down near ground level under the towers. I was in a real quandary. I proposed a couple of different versions of this idea in a couple of papers:  “Adjusting Utility for Justice,” and “Justice, Desert, and the Repugnant Conclusion.”. Eventually the surgeons relented. Each one told a funny, heart-felt story of his or her dealings with me (in some cases, many years ago). I devoted myself to this project of bringing the dead back to life. He invited me to send him the manuscript as soon as I felt it was ready. I took a very popular logic course with Jaegwon Kim. I suspect that there were tears in my eyes as I said goodbye to these people who have meant so much to me during my long tenure at UMass. 31.10.2020 76 loqu. The answers take us on a whirlwind tour of this composers opinions, philosophy, criticisms, recollections and observations. If Jones does not go to the aid of his neighbors, then he ought not to tell them he is coming. A,TS,hj,TT,E . Indeed, I struggled to take notes as fast as Jaegwon could fill up the blackboards. Amazingly, my idol Bob Sleigh had been recruited away from Wayne State. 26, No. I can still recall the time when Ellison was talking about the passage in Moby Dick where Ishmael wakes up to find himself in bed with Queequeg. There were not many course offerings in philosophy. I understand the problem to be this: so long as the total amount of utility enjoyed by a group is the same, it makes no difference which members of the group get the utility. Ever since my days at Brown, I had been aware of a very tricky puzzle that Chisholm had posed concerning the logic of obligation (in his ‘Contrary to Duty Imperatives and Deontic Logic’, Analysis 24 [1963]: 33-36). Only a small handful of people had anything nice to say about desertism. What Is It Like to Be a Philosopher? One day the instructor – Bill Lensing – mentioned Plotinus and said a few words in passing about him. A reviewer on Amazon said, “This is indeed a great book for introductory ethics, but the price has reached the point of absurdity. Then we had dinner. Did you plan on going to college? One day, much to my surprise, Rich called and said that he had switched majors again. I hated the thought of another depressing failure right at the moment of retirement. In order for my nomination to go forward, I had to fill out a form. (We have eight fireplaces in the house; three woodstoves. Read it now. The puzzle concerned the logical relations among four sentences: 1. I think that when it started out they were getting about $12.00 per copy. Unfortunately, it was published in a fairly obscure place and received very little notice. I found it impossible to draw him out. As it turned out, it would not have made a difference. Fred Feldman. … I wrote up a project description according to which if I were to win the fellowship, I would devote the year to writing a book in which I presented, explained, and defended my new desertist theory of justice. In the years that followed, we hired Vere Chappell. It was – at least for me -- a thrilling event. Among the philosophy offerings, there was one in ancient philosophy. I felt somewhat adrift. But this time (if I am still alive) I won’t care what they think. Fred Feldman - 2002 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 65 (3):604-628. Unfortunately, at about that time his father died. In some cases I thought about what I was going to say, and I thought about what Ruth would probably say, and I recognized – even before I had given my response -- that I would surely want to withdraw it within a minute or so. Philosophical studies series in philosophy, vol. After Owen left UMass for a job at Yale, our friendship continued. If there are good people and bad people in the group, then (so long as the totals are held constant) the outcome in which the good ones get the pleasure and the bad ones get the pain is just as good as the outcome in which the good ones get the pain and the bad ones get the pleasure. There were a few nice reviews in some philosophy journals, and a very amusing long article in a Greek newsmagazine. There were some seriously heavy hitters out there. I needed an example of an identity sentence to illustrate some of the points I would be making. I thought, and continue to think, that a form of act utilitarianism is the most attractive theory in the normative ethics of behavior. Richard Feldman is a professor at University of Rochester, Department of Philosophy. It turned out that the course offerings in this college were heavily weighted toward the arts. If you want some insight into the neighborhood in which I grew up, you could take a look at Philip Roth’s novella “Goodbye Columbus”. I parked my bike in front of the Student Union. The new residents were considerably less interested in curtains, drapes and bedspread. Reasons and Persons. Many of the topics discussed in the book intersect with philosophical topics about happiness and welfare – topics about which I had been interested for many years. A list of many of her works appears at her Google Scholar Web page, including treatises on ethics, democracy, ethics without religion, and Kant. 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