New Course Offered in Moral Psychology This Fall  

Dr. Denise Vigani

In the fall of 2021, Dr. Denise Vigani will offer a special topics course titled PHIL 2810 Moral Psychology, to be offered Mondays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Moral psychology is an interdisciplinary field that draws on philosophy, psychology and cognitive science to address questions regarding the psychological aspects of morality. In this course, Dr. Vigani will explore several provocative questions, including:

• How do different moral theories understand moral motivation?
• What role might emotion play in moral judgment?
• Is the existence of virtue supported by empirical evidence?
• How do psychological factors influence our willingness to attribute moral responsibility to others?

Dr. Vigani's research involves elaborating and elucidating Aristotle's views on the virtues, developing accounts of individual virtues, and investigating the relationship between virtue and practical reasoning. Much of Denise's work is informed by empirically-oriented research in psychology and cognitive science, with the aim of elaborating an empirically plausible moral psychology of neo-Aristotelian virtue.

Some of Dr. Vigani's recent publications include:

• "Beyond Silencing: Virtue, Subjective Construal, and Reasoning Practically," Australasian Journal of Philosophy, forthcoming;
• "Virtuous Construal: In Defense of Silencing," Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 2019, 5(2): 229-245;
• "Aristotle's Account of Courage," History of Philosophy Quarterly, 2017, 34(4): 313–330.;
• "Is Patience a Virtue?" Journal of Value Inquiry, 2017, 51(2): 327-340; and,
• "Moral Judgments and Motivation: Making Sense of Mixed Intuitions," Ethical Perspectives, 2016, 23(2).

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