Here is my dissertation abstract.
Below is my writing sample, which is the first chapter of my dissertation:Abstract: Why ought you save a larger number of people rather than a smaller number of people, all else equal? This question is surprisingly difficult for non-consequentialists. I offer an answer that they could give. The two parts to this answer can be roughly summarized as follows. First, you are under a moral requirement to have certain ends. For each person, you are morally required to want their survival for its own sake. Second, you are under a rational requirement to pursue this multiplicity of ends in a certain way. You are rationally required to achieve as many of these ends as possible, if you have these ends.
Later in November 2009, I will upload a draft of the second chapter of my dissertation:
"Altruism and Ambition in the Dynamic Moral Life"
Abstract: How much are you required to sacrifice to help others? I defend a "dynamic" view of this requirement, according to which the amount you must sacrifice changes over time. I argue that beneficence does not simply require you to make sacrifices to help others. It also requires you to develop morally. When you do, you can increase how much you sacrifice, without increasing how demanding your sacrifice is. So I conclude that over time beneficence requires you to increase how much you sacrifice to help others.
I will also upload a paper I presented at the 2009 MIT-ing of the Minds conference, (which takes place at the end of the MIT Winter holiday).
"Should we be sad when a holiday is over?"
Abstract: Most of us are sad when a good holiday ends. We prefer an enjoyable experience to be in the future rather than in the past. And we have the opposite preference for painful experiences. Or, as I say, we are "time-biased". It is intuitive to think that it is rationally permissible to be time-biased. However, I show that a risk averse, time-biased person would accept a series of insurance deals that is guaranteed to leave them poorer, without being better off in any respect...