Virtue is about wanting right and good things, not about being particularly good at thinking. — Nomy Arpaly Character Copy Share Image
I think it's ok to have wishes that conflict with each other - it's irrational to try to make them both come… — Nomy Arpaly Conflict Copy Share Image
Other things being equal, ill will is worse than moral indifference (as in causing suffering for money vs causing suffering to cause… — Nomy Arpaly Copy Share Image
I am an atheist. I don't think there's anything divine. Beautiful, impressive, awe-inspiring - sure, but not divine. — Nomy Arpaly Atheist Copy Share Image
When you find yourself reluctant to sit on a chair because it had unexpectedly collapsed in the past you might shake your… — Nomy Arpaly Finding yourself Copy Share Image
Moral virtues and intellectual virtues are very different from each other, and moral virtue has to do with motivation, not cognition. Moral… — Nomy Arpaly Character Copy Share Image
When I see two owls and then two more owls and conclude that I see four owls, I am responding to reasons,… — Nomy Arpaly Belief Copy Share Image
I am not committed in any way to the traditional concept of character - the concept of "character trait" as involving predictable… — Nomy Arpaly Action Copy Share Image
For those of us who want to have control over all our mental states, compatibilist substitutes - such as desiring what we… — Nomy Arpaly Desire Copy Share Image
If I am told my loving you had to happen because of some Freudian stuff about my childhood, that might be degrading… — Nomy Arpaly Childhood Copy Share Image
Characters in Hollywood movies encounter a lot of car chases. Characters in novels rarely wash their hands or do their laundry. And… — Nomy Arpaly Action Copy Share Image
A very tall man once asked a question after my talk. Before beginning his question, he explained that the reason he was… — Nomy Arpaly Action Copy Share Image
Though we think intrinsic desires tend to be pretty stable, we do not think they imply anything like the amount of predictability… — Nomy Arpaly Behavior Copy Share Image
Duties concern things that are voluntary. I do think that if you have a moral duty to bring me back the book… — Nomy Arpaly Book Copy Share Image
I would be ok if I found out for sure that if I am in any way superior to a wolf it… — Nomy Arpaly Categorical imperative Copy Share Image
Incompatibilists will tell you that a work of art has no meaning unless the artists could have chosen to create a different… — Nomy Arpaly Art Copy Share Image
A person is praiseworthy for a right action to the extent that her action manifests, and is rationalized by, good will, that… — Nomy Arpaly Action Copy Share Image
Sometimes I suspect that there are two prototypes of philosophers who write about humans - I call them "celestials" and "terrestrials", without… — Nomy Arpaly Brain Copy Share Image
I don't think we are all irrational every time we fail to see through an argument in a book, but suppose it's… — Nomy Arpaly Argument Copy Share Image
"Externality" is a different phenomenon from akrasia and doesn't always come with it. The set of desires and actions from which one… — Nomy Arpaly Action Copy Share Image
If I make a stupid decision but don't execute it because I'm, say, lazy, then I'm lucky, not rational. However, at other… — Nomy Arpaly Decision Copy Share Image
I think that if your tenure case depends on your proving what you thought was a mathematical theorem and the proposed theorem… — Nomy Arpaly Decision Copy Share Image
I don't think any of my desires or beliefs or other mental states are external to me. Many people will occasionally feel… — Nomy Arpaly Action Copy Share Image
Suppose a student of mine writes in her exam that "morality is completely relative to culture, so nothing is absolutely right or… — Nomy Arpaly Copy Share Image
Sometimes we deliberate - for example when we plan a long trip or - if we are not math wizards - when… — Nomy Arpaly Action Copy Share Image
People of relatively low intelligence can be morally wonderful if they desire the right and the good (not necessarily under the description… — Nomy Arpaly Blind Copy Share Image
The fact that only humans above a certain age can be morally virtuous, rather than babies or cats, means that that being… — Nomy Arpaly Ability Copy Share Image
Suppose whether or not someone tells me a lie depends only on whether he wants to, but he is morally indifferent, he… — Nomy Arpaly Care Copy Share Image
