John J. Davenport

Dr. John J. Davenport

Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
Fordham University

Room 125 Collins Hall, RH
(718) 817-2775
Email: Davenport@Fordham.Edu

Page Summary. This page contains a summary of my job responsibilities and research interests, links to publications, a list of ongoing research projects, legislative/political initiatives, and links to other personal information and photos.

Brief Professional Biography
Media Contact Information: topics on which I can give interviews.
For a list of courses I've taught at Fordham with links to course descriptions and other course-related materials, see my Course Listing Pages. My courses cover a wide variety of topics, ranging from moral theory, moral psychology (autonomy, free will and responsibility, character) to political philosophy, and existentialism.
For the Department's main page with links for all programs, see the Philosophy Department at Fordham University.
For Environmental Policy at FCLC, please see Colin Cathcart in Architecture/Visual Arts (he is the Associate Director from fall 2008 on). For environmental internships, graduate study, and local organization links, please see the ES Hotlinks Document. This page also contains links to information on the new Environmental Policy major and minor at Fordham.
For a thematically grouped list of my publications with links, see my Research Topics page. For a chronological list of books, articles, and chapters published, see below.
And here my academic CV (more up-to-date than the one on our department faculty list)

Previous Administrative Positions at Fordham	Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies at Lincoln Center: fall 2005 - spring 2008. Advising undergraduates in the Philosophy Major and Minor at the Lincoln Center campus, making course schedules, hosting department events, and maintaining our course webpages. Associate Director of Environmental Studies: fall 2005 - spring 2008. Advising undergraduates in the Environmental Studies Minor at the Lincoln Center campus; directing student internships for credit at several locations in the New York City region. Committees. Examples of my regular committee work during the academic year include: - Environmental Policy Major Executive Committee (2008 - 2012) - Directed three completed dissertations, with two more in progress (2006 - 2012) - Committee member for several graduate student comprehensive oral exams (2008 - 2012) - Modern Comprehensive Exam for the M.A. degree and doctoral candidacy (several years -- prior system) - Dissertation reader for 22 students receiving the Ph.D. at Fordham (1999 -2012) - Dissertation proposal defense committees (many) - Departmental graduate admissions committee for M.A. and Ph.D. programs (two years) - Department Hiring Committees for junior and senior positions (2008-9, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12) - Department Lectures and Invited Speakers Committee (2005-2006, 2012-2013). - Department Executive Committee (three years) - FCLC College Council representative for Philosophy & Environmental Studies (2004-2008) - Strategic Planning Task Force on Central Administration (for Middle States review, 2001) - Senior Values Seminar subcommittee of the Arts and Sciences Council (2003 - 2009).
Professional Service	Refereeing book manuscripts, book proposals, and essays for various publishers and philosophy journals (Cambridge, Oxford, Routledge, Ethics, Inquiry, Faith and Philosophy, IPQ, etc.). President of the Søren Kierkegaard Society of North America (2010 - 2011). In this capacity, I organized the Society's sessions at the American Academy of Religion, planned our banquet, sent emails to members, and worked to find new officers to stand in upcoming elections. Vice-President of the Søren Kierkegaard Society of North America (2007- 2009). In this capacity, I organized the Society's email list and some of its webpages on recent books and for sessions at APA conferences. APA Representative for the Søren Kierkegaard Society of North America ( fall 2003 - fall 2008). In this capacity, I put out two calls for papers and referee submission for two group sessions at two different meetings of the American Philosophical Association per year. See this link for the SK Society's current Call for Papers and Conference Announcements.
Honors	2007-2008 Professor of the Year Award, Graduate Student Association, Fordham University NEH Summer Stipend, 2004: for work on a new book project, Autonomy and Authenticity.

Publications & Papers	Monographs, Books edited, Chapters in Edited Collections, Journal Articles, and Review Essays. (I have recently added links to public talks available for presentation in powerpoint). See my Research Topics page for more links to articles, conference papers, and drafts.
Books	Narrative Identity and Autonomy: from MacIntyre to Kierkegaard (Routledge, July 2012). Available soon as print-on-demand pb. This work defends a narrative account of practical identity and character against recent critiques of narrative theory both as an approach to explaining the structure of selfhood and as a basis for distinguishing aesthetic and ethical selves in Kierkegaard. The first chapter explains the concepts of practical identity and existential autonomy as deep responsibility, while also responding to Galen Strawson's 'episodic' self. The second chapter defends MacIntyre's narrative approach against major criticisms by developing a realist account of narrative continuity (drawing on Carr and Ricoeur) that begins prior to explicit reflective articulation: a 'narravive' is a lived structure with cumulative significance-relations that is analogous to literary narrative. This central chapter also distinguishes different levels of unity in life-stories and provides a robust conception of what constitutes narratival sequence in lives. The third chapter extends this narrative realist model to personal autonomy, which involves deeper levels of continuity implied by volitional cares and coherence among the values that ground ones cares. This account supports distinctively Kierkegaardian claims about narrative identity, including the need for ethical norms to regulate our personal projects and relationships. This narrative model of autonomy clarifies Kierkegaard’s aesthetic-ethical distinction. Chapter four argues that “purity of heart” in Kierkegaard’s sense is a strong kind of wholeheartedness grounded in an ethical ideal willed to the point of infinite resignation. Finally, the fifth chapter develops Kierkegaard’s answer to the objection that mortality prevents human beings from attaining narrative unity while alive, and explains how narrative identity is related to the present consciousness of a freely choosing agent. See the Review by William MacDonald on Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews See the Analytical Table of Contents See Routledge flyer with discount code Will as Commitment and Resolve: An Existential Account of Creativity, Love, Virtue, and Happiness. (Fordham University Press, June, 2007). This book argues that willing is more than the voluntary process of forming intentions; it also includes the formation of new motivation (and the alteration of existing motivation). I contrast the active "projection" of new ends with the passive attraction towards them according to the dominant "erosiac" model coming from ancient Greek eudaimonism. Eudaimonist conceptions of human motivation are incapable of fully accounting for phenomena such as virtue, radical evil, deontic motivation, and other types of volitional caring. These phenomena cannot be explained without the idea of projective motivation, which is implicit in a counter-tradition that runs from early Christian thought to Scotus, Kant, Frankl, Levinas, and Harry Frankfurt. Yet I also argue, with Frankl against Frankfurt, that projective motivation requires goods objectively worth caring about. See the Analytical Table of Contents with Preface. See the Book Abstract; See a sample chapter on Frankfurt, caring, and objective grounds for care. See a sample chapter on Existential Psychology and Intrinsic Motivation See Amazon.com listing: price $61 now. There is a good deal on this book for Barnes and Noble members. This book has been reviewed in Faith and Philosophy and also in ACPQ (in addition to small reviews). Kierkegaard After MacIntyre: Essays in Freedom, Narrative, and Virtue, co-edited with Anthony Rudd (Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co., 2001). This book is a collection of published and new essays responding to MacIntyre’s critique of Kierkegaard and exploring the interfaces between Kierkegaard’s thought on moral agency and MacIntyre’s neo-Aristotelian ethics. The volume includes responses by Alasdair MacIntyre and Philip Quinn. KAM has become a standard text in Kierkegaard studies. This book has now been reprinted in a second edition as a print on demand paperback available through Amazon.com (and hopefully Barnes and Noble too).
Articles in Journals and Edited Volumes (links to PFD versions: view for personal use only) [For a manuscript version of forthcoming papers, contact me] For a thematically grouped list of my publications with links, see my Research Topics.	Forthcoming Essays “Earnestness,” in Kierkegaard’s Concepts, ed. Jon Stewart and William MacDonald, which will be volume 15 in the series, Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources (De Gruyter, 2013) – draft accepted. “Selfhood and Spirit,” forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Kierkegaard, ed. John Lippitt and George Pattison (Oxford University Press, 2013). Completed; in copyedit. “A New Existential Model of God: Open Theism, Agapic Personalism, and Alterogenesis,” forthcoming in Models of God and Other Ultimate Realities, ed. Jeanine Diller (Springer, 2013, forthcoming). Copyedit completed. "Frankfurt on BS, Sincerity, and Love: A Comparison With Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre," forthcoming in Living Reasonably, Loving Well: Conversing with Frankfurt and Kierkegaard, eds. Anthony Rudd and John Davenport. Since taking over this project, Anthony and I have revised the proposal and sent it to publishers for consideration. Published (by Feb. 28, 2013) "Norm-Guided Autonomous Agency in the Formation of Cares," in Autonomy and the Self, ed. Michael Kühler, and Nadja Jelinek (Springer, 2012): 85-116. "Life-Narrative and Death as the End of Freedom" in Kierkegaard and Death, ed. Patrick Stokes and Adam Buben (Indiana University Press, 2011): 160-83. “Just Wars, Humanitarian Intervention, and the Need for a Federation of Democracies,” Journal of Religious Ethics, 39 no.3 (2011): 493–555. “Accidental Devotion and Gratitude: Kierkegaard in My Life Story,” in Why Kierkegaard Matters, ed. Marc Jolley and Edmon Rowell, Jr. (Mercer University Press, 2010): 82-97. For a Federation of Democracies, Ethics and International Affairs 23.1 (spring 2009): Roundtable: "Can Democracies Go It Alone?" (online at http://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2009/for-a-federation-of-democracies-response-to-stephen-schlesinger/) "Religion in the Public Sphere: How Deliberative Democracy offers a Middle Road," in Rethinking Secularization: Philosophy and the Prophecy of a Secular Age, ed. Gary Gabor and Herbert De Vriese (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009): 289-325. "Augustine on Liberty of the Higher-Order Will: Answers to Hunt and Stump," Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (forthcoming, November, 2008). "A Global Federalist Paper: Consolidation Arguments and Transnational Government," Journal of Value Inquiry 42 (Fall, 2008): 353-375. "Kierkegaard’s Postscript in Light of Fear and Trembling," Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia (Dec. 2008) 64 nos 2-4: 879-908. "What Kierkegaardian Faith Adds to Alterity Ethics: How Levinas and Derrida Miss the Eschatological Dimension," in Kierkegaard and Levinas: Ethics, Politics, and Religion, ed. J. Aaron Simmons and David Wood (Indiana University Press, Oct. 2008): 169-198. "Faith as Eschatological Trust in Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling," in Ethics, Love, and Faith in Kierkegaard, ed. Edward Mooney (Indiana University Press, July 2008): 196 - 233 (and notes). "The Deliberative Relevance of Refraining from Deciding: A Response to McKenna and Pereboom," Acta Analytica 21 no.4 (Fall 2006): 62-88. "The Binding Value of Earnest Emotional Valuation," International Journal of Decision Ethics 2 no.1 (Fall 2006): 107-23. "Aquinas’s Teleological Libertarianism," in Analytical Thomism: Traditions in Dialogue, ed. Matthew Pugh (Ashgate Press, 2007). "Just War Theory Requires a New Federation of Democratic Nations," Fordham International Law Journal 28 no.3 (Feb.2005): 763-85. On this topic, also see my Executive Summary of the proposal. "Happy Endings and Religious Hope: The Lord of the Rings as an Epic Fairy Tale," in The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, ed. Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson (Open Court Publishing Co., 2003): 204-18. "Liberty of the Higher-Order Will: Frankfurt and Augustine," Faith and Philosophy 19 no.4 (October 2002): 437-61. "Fischer and Ravizza on Moral Sanity and Weakness of Will," The Journal of Ethics 6 (2002): 235-59. "Eschatological Ultimacy and the Best Possible Hereafter," Ultimate Reality and Meaning 25 (2002): 36-67. "Kierkegaard, Anxiety, and the Will," Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook, Vol. 6, ed. Niels Jørgen Cappelørn, Hermann Deuser, and Jon Stewart (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, fall 2001): 158-81. "Towards an Existential Virtue Ethics: Kierkegaard and MacIntyre," new in Kierkegaard After MacIntyre (Open Court Publishing Co., 2001): 265-324. "Entangled Freedom: Ethical Authority, Original Sin, and Choice in Kierkegaard’s Concept of Anxiety," Kierkegaardiana 21 (2001): 131-51. "My Schindler’s List: A Personal Kierkegaardian Reflection," Religious Humanism 34 nos. 2 and 3 (summer/fall 2001): 13-23. "The Ethical and Religious Significance of Taciturnus’s Letter in Kierkegaard’s Stages on Life’s Way," in the International Kierkegaard Commentary 11: Stages on Life’s Way, ed. Robert Perkins (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, November 2000): 213-44. "A Phenomenology of the Profane: Heidegger, Blumenberg, and the Structure of the ‘Chthonic,’" The Journal of the British Society of Phenomenology 30 no.2 (May, 1999): 183-207. "Levinas’s Agapeistic Metaphysics of Morals: Absolute Passivity and the Other as Eschatological Hierophany," Journal of Religious Ethics 26 no.2 (Fall 1998): 331-66. "Piety, MacIntyre, and Kierkegaardian Choice: A Reply to Professor Ballard," Faith and Philosophy 15 no.3 (July 1998): 487-501. "Deontology and the Antinomy of Libertarianism: A Response to James Sterba," in Rending and Renewing the Social Order, Social Philosophy Today series, Vol. 12, ed. Yeager Hudson (Edwin Mellen Press, December 1996): 177-218. "The Essence of Eschatology: A Modal Interpretation," Ultimate Reality and Meaning, 19 no.3 (September, 1996): 206-39. "The Meaning of Kierkegaard’s Choice Between the Aesthetic and the Ethical," Southwest Philosophy Review 11 no.2 (August, 1995): 73-108. Revised /reprinted in Kierkegaard After MacIntyre (Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co., 2001): 75-112. "Deontology and Alan Donagan’s Problem of Exception-Rules," Analysis 55 no.4 (October, 1995), 261-70.
Review Essays	Review of Charles Larmore, Practices of the Self (University of Chicago Press, 2010). Ethics 122 no.2 (Jan. 2012): 434-40. Review of Normativity and the Will, by R.J. Wallace in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (online since Dec. 2007 at http://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews.cfm). Review of Religion in the Liberal Polity, ed. Terence Cuneo, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (online since summer 2005 at http://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews.cfm). Review Essay on Natural Law and Practical Rationality, by Mark Murphy, in International Philosophical Quarterly 43 no.2 (June 2003): 229-39. Review of Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility, by Fischer and Ravizza, in Faith and Philosophy 17 no.3 (July 2000): 384-95. Review Essay on Tradition(s), by Stephen Watson, in The Owl of Minerva: Journal of the Hegel Society of America (December 2000): 65-82.
Short Reviews	Review of The Will, 2nd ed., by Brian O’Shaughnessey. In International Philosophical Quarterly 51 no.2: 259-64. Review of Virtue Epistemology, ed. Linda Zagzebski and Abrol Fairweather, in International Philosophical Quarterly 42 no.3 (summer 2002): 401-4. Review of Marx, Hayek, and Utopia, by Chris Sciabarra, in Canadian Philosophical Reviews 16 no.2 (April, 1996).
Conference Papers & Lectures	See my CV for a complete list of refereed conference presentations, invited lectures, and replies. Copies of any of these papers and commentaries are available on request. Recent Samples: "Westphal's Kierkegaardian Appreciation of Levinas: Some Doubts," presented at the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology, meeting concurrently with SPEP (Oct. 29, 2009). "A Democratic Federation is Both Feasible and Just: A Response to Habermas and to his Postmodern Critics," delivered at the Critical Theory Roundtable (Fordham University, Sept. 2008). "Westphal's Kierkegaardian Appreciation of Levinas: Some Doubts," presented at the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology, meeting concurrently with SPEP (Oct. 29, 2009). "Westphal's Kierkegaardian Appreciation of Levinas: Some Doubts," presented at the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology, meeting concurrently with SPEP (Oct. 29, 2009) .
Public Talks in powerpoint (can be presented on request)	"Sustainable Limits: Projections of Human Footprint to 2050." Developed for Global Environmental Justice class at Fordham University (Feb, 2, 2012). "Environmental Limits to Resources Use." Developed for Global Environmental Justice class at Fordham University (2011). "US Debt, Federal Deficit History, and Tax Law." Developed for Political Libertarianism & Critics course at Fordham University (Fall 2011). "An Argument for a Federation of Democracies " presented at Central Connecticut State University (March 17, 2010). "Lincoln, Slavery, and Race: An Analysis of Lincoln's Changing Views" Presented at Columbia High School (South Orange-Maplewood NJ school district) Feb. 2009 for Lincoln's 200th birthday. "An Existential Analysis of Inauthenticity: Frankfurt on BS and Wantonness, Kierkegaard on Aestheticism and Idle Talk: Presented at the College of Charleston (Feb. 2008) "An Existential God: New Perspectives in Philosophy of Religion." Presented at the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School (November, 2007) "Dwelling in Tolkien and Heidegger." Developed for Fantasy and Philosophy course at Fordham University (2006) "Moral Issues Regarding Social Security." Developed for a forum at Fordham University (2005) "God and the Structure of the Hubbelian Universe." Presented at the Hiddenness of God conference, University of Colorado (Boulder, CO: October 22, 2004) "Does the Good End Justify an Evil Means? Problems with Utilitarianism," South Orange-Maplewood Adult School (Nov. 3, 2003).
Work in Progress and/or under consideration	A Federation of Democracies: The End of Tyranny and Global Market Failures in the 21st Century. This monograph will synthesize three published articles and several conference presentations on global justice into a new short monograph on the need for a worldwide federation of democracies to meet the demands of human rights and other global public goods (including solving environmental issues involving international collective action problems). I argue that the central flaws in the UN system cannot be fixed by amending that system; the Security Council must be replaced by a transnational authority with effective coordinative power that is directly answerable to democratic peoples. The one feasible option that meets these standards would be a league of democratic nations from all parts of globe dedicated to ensuring at least the most minimal rights of every human person, and to solving a wide array of global collective action problems that cause poverty and threaten the collective future of humanity. Refutations of Libertarianism: NeoLiberal Errors from Ayn Rand to Rand Paul. This book aims to explain in a clear and focused way central points about rights, property, the limits of markets and the need for public goods, including democratic participation, that reveal the fundamental errors of political libertarianism as a set of views about social justice. Libertarianism is too rarely given serious attention in philosophical scholarship, given how deeply it has affected our popular culture since the 1930s on, making much of the public irrational about issues as basic as what the federal government should do and how to fund its operations in ways that are fair to all. This study will distinguish four different forms of libertarian argument, show why each of them fails, and how their problems point towards an alternative account of social justice that I call the 'Endowment Model of Justice as Trusteeship.' This model makes possible a comprehensive refutation of all four major forms of political libertarianism. Individual Autonomy and Authenticity: An Existential Account. This is a book project on the nature of personal autonomy. The theory I expect to develop, which builds on my analysis in Will as Commitment and Resolve, has been outlined in my monograph on Narrative Identity and Autonomy. However, more detailed work on Frankfurt, source conditions of autonomy, leeway-libertarian freedom and existential conditions of authenticity are involved in the full account (see chapter outline via the link). The final project will involve ideas developed in some of my essays on free will as well.
Older papers in in draft form	Identification and Bad Faith: Combining Frankfurtian and Sartrean Insights Democracy Beyond Nationalism: Transnational Identity and Universalism in the Political Philosophy of Jürgen Habermas A Heideggerian Critique of Hans Blumenberg's Work on Myth An Existentialist Critique of Molinism The Phenomenological Critique of Representationalism: Husserl's and Heidegger's Transcendental Arguments for a Qualified Realism An Interpretation of Kant's "Refutation of Idealism" Rawls's Priority of Liberty and Difference Principles: A Deliberative-Democratic Critique A Philosophical Critique of Psychological Personality-Type Theories: Myers-Briggs, Esyenck, and Jung Habermas's Democratic Balance Between Rights and Popular Sovereignty: A Response to Charles Larmore
Informal papers (with no planned publication)	Time and Responsibility: Duties to the Past, Present, and Future. This is an edited version of four talks given in spring 2002 at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in New York City. For the Wordperfect version, click here. The Matter of Britain: The Mythological and Philosophical Significance of the British Legends (manuscript used as a gift to friends and to supplement a course packet on Tolkien).
Research & Teaching Goals	See my statement on Research Achievements and Goals See my statement on Teaching Experience and Goals
Interviews on Internet, Television, and Radio	Interviewee on Tom Morris's Huffington Post blog: "On Replacing the UN Security Council." See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-morris/interview-with-a-philosop_b_645741.html Interviewee on the Beowulf and Tolkien episodes in the Mythology series titled "Clash of the Gods," The History Channel (September - October, 2009). Interviewed with Bill Irwin and John Blythe on Fordham Conversations, WFUV Radio, Aired December 27, 2003. Interview with Larry Petracarro on Books in Action, SOMA-COM Local Access Channel 35, Maplewood NJ, October 7, 2003. Interviewee on the Morning Show, Channel 12 NYC, Spring 1999. The topic was the ethics of fetal gender selection.
Education	Dissertation: Self and Will: Projective Motivation, Existential Autonomy, and Frankfurt’s Concept of Identification. Director: Karl Ameriks, Hank-McMahon Professor of Philosophy. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1992-1998. Ph.D. conferred August 8, 1998. High honors for MA level work. Yale University: B.A. May, 1989. Graduated Magna Cum Laude with Distinction in Philosophy. TASIS England: High School Diploma, June 1985. Graduated Valedictorian.

Legislative Initiatives, Political Arguments, and Community Involvement

In addition to academic pursuits, I am involved in real-world political debates relating to my local school board's educational priorities, the State of New Jersey's school funding mechanisms, national political issues such as the federal debt and Social Security, and the need for stronger global governance to uphold fundamental human rights. Here are a list of links to some policy initiatives and papers.

The Democratic Federation	This is my proposal to solve the ever-more urgent problems of global governance in the world today. A federation of democracies is a third way between bankrupt American unilateralism and the outdated/corrupt U.N. Security Council system. The goal primary goal is that atrocities of the kinds witnessed in Bosnias, Rwandas, Darfurs, and Syria finally become preventable through a stable global alliance. Here is a link to the Executive Summary of the proposal. And see my Carnegie Council editorial: For a Federation of Democracies
Selected Editorials	US Federal Debt Cannot be Solved without Tax Increases For a series of older editorials on school issues, state issues, and international conflicts, see this subpages.
A Constitutional Convention to solve the fundamental problems facing the United States	We have reached the point where the structural problems in the US systems of governance, elections, media, and education of citizens are so dysfunctional that the only adequate solution is a series of constitutional amendments of a fundamental depth, as last undertaken at the end of the Civil War. We need to root out corruption, lobbying money, and stalemate from our federal government once and for all. The very core of the federal government is the US Senate, which has ceased to function due to the filibuster. As a result, people elect majorities to both houses of Congress and to the Presidency and still see little of the party platform enacted. As a result, citizens become ever more frustrated, cynical, and withdrawn. As a result, they pay less attention and know less about what is going on; then they are more easily manipulated by massive monied interests. But significant amendments cannot now pass Congress or be ratified by enough states one by one. Only a new convention called directly by the states can break through these stalling factors, and offer us the chance to fix the main ailments that are depriving America of its future. See the webpage on the New Constitutional Convention Summary here.
Fun Stuff for classes	Hermione's Riddle of the Potions (I made this handout for use in logic courses)