Thomas E. Hill (academic)

Last updated
Thomas E. Hill
Born
Thomas English Hill Jr.

1937 (age 82–83)
Atlanta,[ citation needed ] Georgia, US
Era Contemporary philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Analytic
Doctoral advisor John Rawls
Other academic advisors Gilbert Ryle
Main interests

Thomas English Hill Jr. (born 1937) is Emeritus Kenan Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a specialist in ethics, political philosophy, history of ethics and the work of Immanuel Kant. He has also a Past-President of the American Philosophical Association. [1]

Contents

Life and career

Thomas E. Hill Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. His father, also named Thomas E. Hill, was a moral philosopher who was deeply influenced by the work of G. E. Moore. Their family lived mainly in St. Paul, Minnesota where Hill's father taught philosophy for many years at Macalester College. [2] Hill received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1959. He was elected a Rhodes Scholar that year and subsequently completed a B.Phil. in philosophy at Oxford University in 1961, working with P.F. Strawson, Gilbert Ryle, J.O. Urmson and others. Hill returned to Harvard in 1962 for his Ph.D. in philosophy, which he completed under John Rawls in 1966. Hill first taught at Johns Hopkins University before moving to Pomona College in California. He joined the faculty at UCLA in 1968 where he taught until 1984, when he moved to the faculty at UNC Chapel Hill. [3]

Hill is married to A. Robin Hill, who has an MSW from UNC Chapel Hill and works as a medical social worker. They live in Pittsboro, North Carolina. He has two sons by his first marriage (Thomas Edward Hill and Kenneth James Hill), to Sharon Bishop, who also received her PhD from Harvard, in 1968, and taught philosophy at California State University, Los Angeles. [4]

Hill is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, [5] and gave the Tanner Lectures on Human Values in 1994. [6] He has won numerous teaching awards, including the UNC Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction in 1998 and 2010. [7]

Philosophical work

Hill is best-known for his work interpreting, explaining and extending Kant’s moral and political philosophy. He emphasizes features of Kant’s views that fit common moral understanding while separating out aspects of Kant's work that are more controversial. In his "The Kingdom of Ends" (1971), Hill highlights the Kingdom of Ends formulation of Kant's Categorical Imperative, which he interprets as a point of view for assessing mid-level moral rules and virtues that is similar in some ways to John Rawls' Original Position. [8] As Hill interprets Kant In his “Humanity as an End in Itself" (1980), dignity is an incommensurable status that must be interpreted and applied through moral principles and virtues. [9] Hill has made other contributions to Kant scholarship. In his article “The Hypothetical Imperative” (1973) he argues that Kant presupposes an unconditionally necessary (a priori) principle of practical reasoning that goes beyond morality but always leaves us with the option of abandoning our purposes rather than taking the necessary means to them. [10] And in his “Kant’s Argument for the Rationality of Moral Conduct” (1985), Hill reconstructs the obscure and dismissed argument in Part III of Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals . [11] His views on Kant are brought together in his introduction to the Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (Oxford University Press, 2002). [12]

In addition to his work on Kant, Hill has done work (mostly collected in his collection Autonomy and Self-Respect (Cambridge University Press, 1991) searching for and articulating the values we presuppose in our moral judgments on particular cases by focusing on realistic examples. [13] He often suggests why familiar moral theories such as utilitarianism do not fully explain our grounds for these judgments and attempts to explain and partially defend the non-standard values we work from in everyday life. In his "Servility and Self-Respect" (1973) Hill explores the kinds of servile attitudes of those who have lost their self-respect. [14] He makes a case for affirmative action in his "The Message of Affirmative Action" (1991) that is not exclusively focused on providing future benefits or righting past wrongs. [15] And his "Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments" (1983) addresses certain environmental issues by considering what kind of person would treat the environment in various ways instead of directly addressing the standard problems of cost-benefit analysis, the intrinsic value of nature and anthropocentrism. [16]

Related Research Articles

Ethics Branch of philosophy that discusses right and wrong conduct

Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior". The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns matters of value, and thus comprises the branch of philosophy called axiology.

Immanuel Kant Prussian philosopher

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics have made him one of the most influential figures in modern Western philosophy.

Autonomy Capacity for independence, control, discretion or political self-governance

In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defined from a human resources perspective, where it denotes a level of discretion granted to an employee in his or her work. In such cases, autonomy is known to generally increase job satisfaction. Self-actualized individuals are thought to operate autonomously of external expectations. In a medical context, respect for a patient's personal autonomy is considered one of many fundamental ethical principles in medicine.

Categorical imperative

The categorical imperative is the central philosophical concept in the deontological moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Introduced in Kant's 1785 Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, it may be defined as a way of evaluating motivations for action.

<i>Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals</i>

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals is the first of Immanuel Kant's mature works on moral philosophy and remains one of the most influential in the field. Kant conceives his investigation as a work of foundational ethics—one that clears the ground for future research by explaining the core concepts and principles of moral theory, and showing that they are normative for rational agents.

Hypothetical imperative

A hypothetical imperative is originally introduced in the philosophical writings of Immanuel Kant. This sort of imperative is contrasted with a categorical imperative.

In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action. It is sometimes described as duty-, obligation-, or rule-based ethics. Deontological ethics is commonly contrasted to consequentialism, virtue ethics, and pragmatic ethics. In this terminology, action is more important than the consequences.

<i>Critique of Practical Reason</i> 1788 book by Immanuel Kant

The Critique of Practical Reason is the second of Immanuel Kant's three critiques, published in 1788. It follows on from Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and deals with his moral philosophy.

Kantianism Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher

Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia. The term Kantianism or Kantian is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics.

The concept of universalizability was set out by the 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant as part of his work Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. It is part of the first formulation of his categorical imperative, which states that the only morally acceptable maxims of our actions are those that could rationally be willed to be universal law.

Kingdom of Ends

The Kingdom of Ends is a thought experiment centered on the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Kant introduced the concept in his Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (4:439). The thought experiment proposes a world in which all human beings are treated as ends, not as mere means to an end for other people.

<i>The Metaphysics of Morals</i>

The Metaphysics of Morals is a 1797 work of political and moral philosophy by Immanuel Kant. In structure terms, it is divided into two sections: the Doctrine of Right, dealing with rights, and the Doctrine of Virtue, dealing with virtues.

On the Basis of Morality is one of Arthur Schopenhauer's major works in ethics, in which he argues that morality stems from compassion. Schopenhauer begins with a criticism of Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, which Schopenhauer considered to be the clearest explanation of Kant's foundation of ethics.

Kantian ethics Ethical theory of Immanuel Kant

Kantian ethics refers to a deontological ethical theory developed by German philosopher Immanuel Kant that is based on the notion that: "It is impossible to think of anything at all in the world, or indeed even beyond it, that could be considered good without limitation except a good will." The theory was developed as a result of Enlightenment rationalism, stating that an action can only be good if its maxim—the principle behind it—is duty to the moral law, and arises from a sense of duty in the actor.

Radical evil is a phrase used by German philosopher Immanuel Kant, one representing the Christian term, radix malorum. Kant believes that human beings naturally have a tendency to be evil. He explains radical evil as corruption in a human being that takes over them entirely. It has their desire acting against the universal moral law. The outcome of one's natural tendency, or innate propensity, towards evil are actions or "deeds" that subordinate the moral law. By Kant, these actions oppose the universally moral maxims and displayed from self-love and self conceit. By many authors, Kant's concept of radical evil is seen as a paradox and inconsistent through his development of moral theories.

Steve F. Sapontzis is an American philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at California State University, East Bay who specializes in animal ethics, environmental ethics and meta-ethics. He is the author of Morals, Reason, and Animals (1987) and Subjective Morals (2011), and editor of Food for Thought: The Debate over Eating Meat (2004). He was co-founder in 1985 of the journal Between the Species: A Journal of Ethics, and founder of the Hayward Friends of Animals Humane Society. He was also one of the first members of the board of directors of the Society for the Study of Ethics and Animals.

Allen William Wood is an American philosopher specializing in the work of Immanuel Kant and German Idealism, with particular interests in ethics and social philosophy. He is the Ruth Norman Halls professor of philosophy at Indiana University and has held professorships and visiting appointments at numerous universities in the United States and Europe. In addition to popularising and clarifying the ethical thought of Kant, Wood has also mounted arguments against the validity of trolley problems in moral philosophy.

Oliver Sensen is a German philosopher and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Tulane University. He is known for his expertise on Kantian philosophy. Sensen is the vice-president of North American Kant Society.

Jens Timmermann is a German philosopher and the Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. He is best known for his research on Kant’s ethics, political philosophy and philosophy of law.

Lara Denis is an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy and Director of Ethics Program at Agnes Scott College. She is known for her works on Kantian ethics. Denis is a former President of Phi Beta Kappa (2007-2008).

References

  1. ↑ "Thomas Hill elected APA Eastern President 2014-15".
  2. ↑ "Thomas E. Hill Prize in Philosophy at Macalester College".
  3. ↑ "Hill's CV on the UNC-CH website".
  4. ↑ "Cal State LA Philosophy Faculty Page".
  5. ↑ "2012 Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences" (PDF). Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  6. ↑ https://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_documents/a-to-z/h/Hill97.pdf
  7. ↑ "Past winners of the UNC award for post-baccalaureate instruction".
  8. ↑ Hill, Thomas (1972). "The Kingdom of Ends". Proceedings of the Third International Kant Congress. Synthese Historical Library. 4: 307–315. doi:10.1007/978-94-010-3099-1_26. ISBN   978-94-010-3101-1.
  9. ↑ Hill, Thomas (1980). "Humanity as an End in Itself". Ethics. 91: 84–99. doi:10.1086/292205. S2CID   143211139.
  10. ↑ Hill, Thomas (1982). "The Hypothetical Imperative". The Philosophical Review: 429–450.
  11. ↑ Hill, Thomas (1985). "Kant's Argument for the Rationality of Moral Conduct". Pacific Philosophical Quarterly . 66 (1–2): 3–23. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0114.1985.tb00239.x.
  12. ↑ Hill, Thomas. Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. Oxford University Press.
  13. ↑ Hill, Thomas (1991). Autonomy and Self-Respect. Cambridge University Press.
  14. ↑ Hill, Thomas (1973). "Servility and Self-Respect". The Monist. 57: 87–104. doi:10.5840/monist197357135.
  15. ↑ Hill, Thomas (1991). "The Message of Affirmative Action". Social Philosophy and Policy. 8 (2): 108–129. doi:10.1017/S0265052500001151.
  16. ↑ Hill, Thomas (1983). "Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments". Environmental Studies. 5 (3): 211–224. doi:10.5840/enviroethics19835327.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.