Open research questions in Philosophical Ethics and Theory
408 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 6,755 Philosophical Ethics and Theory papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of Climacus' concept of subjective truth, which has often been interpreted as dramatically upholding the rift between Christian faith and common-sense reason. The paper argues that prior readings of Climacus' position have ultimately fallen short of rationally vindicating his case for high christology.
The paper identifies a gap in the current understanding of one-way and two-way powers. It argues that the conditional analysis and alternative accounts face serious difficulties. The gap is related to the lack of a clear understanding of how one-way and two-way powers relate to agency.
Investigating connections between ought and the count sense of 'reason', - Exploring the implications of the new semantics for natural language semantics
The gap is that the implications of the Connection Principles and upwards monotonicity on the semantics of deontic modals have been overlooked. The paper identifies a need for a new approach to the semantics of deontic modals that respects the connections between reasons and oughts.
The gap in prior solutions, which often require revisions to philosophical orthodoxy or pre-theoretical intuition. The lack of a conservative solution that respects the puzzle's own terms and stays true to the trend of explaining facts about fittingness. The need for a solution that can explain how fitting anger can cease to be fitting despite the unchangeable fact about the past.
The paper identifies a gap in the ME view's account of standing to blame. It argues that the ME view fails to adequately account for cases of hypercrisy and hypocrisy. The paper highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of moral norms and standing to blame.
The paper identifies a gap in the ability of semantic theories to account for many meanings across and within domains. It highlights the challenge of explaining a wide range of puzzling target notions. The paper notes that inferential expressivism must either appeal to an expansive repertoire of speech acts or keep that repertoire sparse.
Further exploration of the implications of vague discounting thresholds, - Investigation of the relationship between moderates and fanatics in different decision-making contexts, - Analysis of the role of prospect separability in decision theory
The gap is that arguments for fanaticism have been gaining traction, despite being counterintuitive. The paper identifies a need for a more plausible approach to decision theory, one that defends moderation against the challenge of fanaticism.
We can make some progress on hard questions in axiology, like the authority of Pareto principles, by turning our attention to similarly hard questions in metaphysics - The full story about ex ante Pareto is a bit more complicated
The paper identifies a gap in the discussion on absolutism and comparativism about value. The author argues that the question of absolutism vs comparativism is not a mere metaphysical curiosity, but can make a difference to how we approach substantive questions of axiology.
The paper identifies a gap in the existing literature, namely the lack of a dialectically forceful formulation of the unfairness argument. It also identifies a gap in the existing critiques of the unfairness argument, which fail to address its core concerns.
A theoretical gap in Kant's account of moral development - A lack of clarity on how we become responsible, autonomous agents - A need to understand how moral conscience adapts to different stages of maturation
There is a gap in the current understanding of the grounds of our duties to care. The paper identifies the need to reconcile tensions between prevalent non-voluntarist views.
The inability of philosophy to produce substantive consensus among professional philosophers. The lack of a clear understanding of philosophy as a discipline. The challenges of authority, incubativity, and peculiarity that philosophy faces.
The gap between the idea of science as providing an 'absolute conception of the world' and the possibility of 'making sense of ourselves' - The limitations of philosophy as a humanistic discipline - The relation between the Critical stance in philosophy and humanism
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the concept of self-interest in moral philosophy. The paper claims that the concept of self-interest is a confused critique of ancient ethics.
The need to understand the concept of normativity in ethics. The lack of clarity on the relation between deontic moral concepts and ethical notions of goodness. The need to place deontic morality properly on the normative map.
The lack of clarity on the relation between agent-neutral reasons and morality's requirements. The need for a central role for agent-neutral reasons in moral theory. The concern that giving agent-neutral reasons a central role may jeopardize the distinctive account contractualists give of what people owe one another.
The gap is that the term 'naturalism' is empty of meaning. The gap is that the question of whether a theory is naturalistic is an empty verbal dispute.
detailed engagement with Anscombe's thinking on Parmenides or Plato, - chapters focussing centrally on her important work on causation, or on her various engagements with Hume, - work on testimony and trust
The Anscombean Mind by Adrian Haddock and Rachael Wiseman (eds.) (Routledge, 2022). Routledge Philosophical Minds series. · 2024 · DOIOne challenge is the difficulty of Anscombe's writing, which can invite superficial engagement from readers. Another challenge is the need to provide a comprehensive understanding of Anscombe's work, beyond her commonly known areas of expertise.
The Anscombean Mind by Adrian Haddock and Rachael Wiseman (eds.) (Routledge, 2022). Routledge Philosophical Minds series. · 2024 · DOIThere is a lack of clarity on Aristotle's ideas on two-way powers and their relationship to agency. Prior work has not fully explored the distinction between rational and non-rational powers. The nature of the two 'ways' in which agents manifest their agency is not well understood.
This article, in contrast, focuses on Smith’s comparatively understudied treatment of love in the Lectures on Jurisprudence to argue that the lectures set forth a sophisticated theory of the ways in which the progressive development of social institutions contributed to the emergence of modern conceptions of love.
The existing literature has not explored the possibility that Kant's claim is an analytic truth. The paper identifies a gap in the existing literature, which has typically understood this claim as a substantive thesis.
Most-cited papers in Philosophical Ethics and Theory
- The Norm of Reciprocity: A Preliminary Statement · American Sociological Review · 1960 · 8,205 citations
- The dimensions of perfectionism · Cognitive Therapy and Research · 1990 · 3,126 citations
- A Note on the Pure Theory of Consumer's Behaviour · Economica · 1938 · 1,411 citations
- Modern Moral Philosophy · Philosophy · 1958 · 1,382 citations
- Well-Being, Agency and Freedom: The Dewey Lectures 1984 · The Journal of Philosophy · 1985 · 1,096 citations
- Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility · The Journal of Philosophy · 1969 · 1,054 citations
- 8. On A Distinction Between Hypothetical Constructs And Intervening Variables · Psychological Review · 1948 · 671 citations
- Constructivist and Ecological Rationality in Economics · American Economic Review · 2003 · 595 citations
- Logics of Identity, Contradiction, and Attraction in Change · Academy of Management Review · 1994 · 592 citations
- A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories of Value · Philosophical Studies · 2005 · 540 citations
Most recent work
- Rethinking critical pedagogy in times of polycrisis: towards a generative praxis of entanglement, complicity and hope · Pedagogy Culture and Society · 2026
- Voluntariness or validity? A reply to Smith and Mackie · Journal of Medical Ethics · 2026
- John Rawls and Liberal Guilt · Polity · 2026
- Commensuration as moral image: liberal modernity’s equivalence machine · Distinktion Journal of Social Theory · 2026
- High Standards · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · 2026
- In defense of a distinction · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · 2026
- Expressionist relational egalitarianism: Schemmel’s core argument · Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy · 2026
- Contractualism and the Distant World Objection · The Philosophical Quarterly · 2026
- Group well-being and the consciousness requirement · The Philosophical Quarterly · 2026
- Beyond individual autonomy: relational dimensions of the right not to know · Journal of Medical Ethics · 2026
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