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 Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Dissertation: Finis!

By Diana Hsieh @ 9:15 AM

I'm pleased to announce that -- as of noon on Saturday, May 30th, after two crazy weeks of much editing and little sleep -- I completed my dissertation. It has been submitted to my committee. I'm scheduled to defend on June 18th.

It is titled: "Better Good Than Lucky: An Aristotelian Solution to the Problem of Moral Luck." Here's the abstract:
Philosopher Thomas Nagel casts doubt on our ordinary moral judgments of persons by his arguments for the existence of "moral luck." We intuitively accept that moral responsibility requires control, yet we seem to routinely praise and blame people for actions, outcomes, and character substantially shaped by luck. This challenge to moral judgment rests on a faulty view of the conditions for moral responsibility and the process of moral judgment. The morally responsible person must satisfy the control and epistemic conditions originally identified by Aristotle in Book Three of the Nicomachean Ethics. When those conditions are adequately explained and developed, moral responsibility clearly tracks a person's voluntary actions, outcomes, and character. Nagel's questions about whether a person might have done otherwise given better or worse luck are irrelevant to the praise and blame a person deserves for his actual voluntary doings. This account of moral responsibility and moral judgment eliminates the appearance of moral luck in the puzzling cases raised by Nagel and others. We can conclude that our ordinary moral judgments of persons are warranted: they do not depend on luck in any problematic way.
The dissertation quite a monster at 329 pages -- or 93,402 words, if you prefer. See for yourself:



Overall, I'm quite pleased with it. It largely consists of new and good philosophical work on moral judgment and moral responsibility. I wasn't required to compromise my own views in any way, nor even to write on issues that I regarded as unimportant. Moreover, I enjoyed the topic overall -- and I'm still quite fascinated by some of the related issues that I wasn't able to explore in depth. That's pretty good, given that the prospectus and dissertation took constant and often grueling work over the course of almost exactly two years. Sometimes, the end felt like it would never come.

I will make a version of the dissertation available sometime this summer. If you would like me to e-mail you when that is available, please write me at diana@dianahsieh.com. I will also announce it on NoodleFood, of course.

I will charge a nominal fee for the work. It's darn good philosophy -- and the product of two years of sustained and often arduous work on my part. So if you wish to partake, you will have to pay for the privilege. However, I do plan to turn a few extracts of the dissertation into academic articles, as well as publish a revised version of the whole work as an academic book. So I'll happily give it to anyone willing and able to give me substantive comments, particularly philosophers familiar with Aristotle's views on moral responsibility and lawyers interested in questions about attribution of liability in tort and criminal law.

Right now, I'm relaxing, while attempting to catch up on all the projects and pursuits that I've completely ignored over the past few months. I suppose that, if you've been burning to e-mail me about something, you can do so now. However, now and in the future, my replies will likely be short, as I simply don't wish to spend much time on e-mail.

As for my future plans, you'll hear about those later.

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 Comments

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 8:39:38 mst
Comment ID: #1
Name: Mike
E-mail: atlas51184(at)comcast.net

Congratulations!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 8:40:42 mst
Comment ID: #2
Name: John Lewis
E-mail: classicalideals(at)yahoo.com
URL: http://classicalideals.com

Congratulations, girl! No luck involved in getting such a project done.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 8:45:44 mst
Comment ID: #3
Name: Sascha Settegast
E-mail: sascha.settegast(at)gmx.de

Congratulations again on successfully completing this interesting project! :-)
I am very much looking forward to the academic book version being published!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 9:05:24 mst
Comment ID: #4
Name: Adam Mossoff
E-mail: amossoff(at)gmail.com

Congratulations! I'm very excited for you! In legal terms, I'd say that you are now an inchoate doctor, and that you will soon perfect your rightful claim to the full title on June 18. :)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 9:38:51 mst
Comment ID: #5
Name: Michael Labeit
E-mail: logician179(at)yahoo.com
URL: http://unit-perspective.blogspot.com

"The dissertation quite a monster at 329 pages -- or 93,402 words, if you prefer."

Ahh, I prefer letters... Puh!

Congratulations.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 9:48:40 mst
Comment ID: #6
Name: Steve D'Ippolito

Hot diggety!

I have to multiply in my mind by about ten the feeling I had when I finished my "original investigaion" for my Masters to imagine your state of mind. (As to why it was an "original investigation" instead of a "thesis", I'd be happy to tell you if asked, but I won't subject you to it otherwise.)

Congratulations!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 10:47:51 mst
Comment ID: #7
Name: Aaron West
E-mail: aaron.voorhees.west(at)gmail.com

Congratulations! It's wonderful to hear about such an achievement. I too look forward to the book version being published.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 10:49:25 mst
Comment ID: #8
Name: Joe Maurone
E-mail: spaceplayer2112(at)hotmail.com
URL: http://superherobabylong.blogspot.com

Congratulations!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 12:09:01 mst
Comment ID: #9
Name: Richard

Well done Diana!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 12:32:55 mst
Comment ID: #10
Name: Jack

Well Done!

So it only took you 2 weeks to write and edit this dissertation?

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 12:43:40 mst
Comment ID: #11
Name: Jim May
E-mail: Seerak(at)gmail.com

Congratulations, and welcome back.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 13:49:52 mst
Comment ID: #12
Name: Diana Hsieh
E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com
URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog

Thanks everyone!

(*sigh* Jack, read the post again. Two weeks refers to the last painful bit of editing. The whole project took two years.)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 15:05:41 mst
Comment ID: #13
Name: Tom Rowland
E-mail: atlasfan(at)earthlink.net

Hearty congratulations! You will be getting an email from me. I know that this is a major discipline. Best wishes on the 18th.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 15:06:45 mst
Comment ID: #14
Name: Tom Rowland
E-mail: atlasfan(at)earthlink.net

Hearty congratulations! You will be getting an email from me. I know that this is a major discipline. Best wishes on the 18th.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 16:01:53 mst
Comment ID: #15
Name: Tom Mckendree

Congratulations!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 16:49:29 mst
Comment ID: #16
Name: sara

Congrats!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 17:16:31 mst
Comment ID: #17
Name: Jason Crawford
E-mail: jasonc(at)alumni.cmu.edu
URL: http://www.jasoncrawford.org

Capital! Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing *Dr.* Hsieh (both of you!) at OCON, if you'll be there.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 17:21:27 mst
Comment ID: #18
Name: Wayne

If moral responsibility and moral judgment eliminates the appearance of moral luck, on June 18, can I still wish you "good luck!"?
Good luck on your good work!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 17:34:27 mst
Comment ID: #19
Name: Amit Ghate
URL: http://amitghate.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Diana!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 17:40:01 mst
Comment ID: #20
Name: Gilliatt

Congratulations! I hope your defense goes well.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 17:46:53 mst
Comment ID: #21
Name: Ryan C

Woohoo! Go Diana! I'd be thrilled to pay to read it, really. It sounds very interesting.

Congratulations, and good LUCK on the 18th. (Pun intended)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 20:04:51 mst
Comment ID: #22
Name: Andrew Baker

Excellent.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 20:59:31 mst
Comment ID: #23
Name: Rational Jenn
E-mail: rationaljenn(at)gmail.com
URL: http://rationaljenn.blogspot.com

Woohoo! Well done! :o)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 21:25:03 mst
Comment ID: #24
Name: Dan G.

Bravo!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 5:15:36 mst
Comment ID: #25
Name: Bill Perry
E-mail: wperryster(at)gmail(dot)com

Yeaaah!

Bill

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 7:33:33 mst
Comment ID: #26
Name: Michael A. Slivka
E-mail: michaelslivka(at)earthlink.net
URL: http://www.slivkalaw.com

Outstanding! I would pay for the privilege of reading it...and you won't NEED luck on the 18th. Yeay, Dr. Diana!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 13:20:29 mst
Comment ID: #27
Name: Amy
E-mail: mossoffa(at)gmail.com
URL: http://www.amymossoff.com

Congratulations!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 14:02:38 mst
Comment ID: #28
Name: BrianS

Excellent news. :)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 14:25:23 mst
Comment ID: #29
Name: Sajid

Conragulations. I will look forward to when you publish the book.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 14:51:15 mst
Comment ID: #30
Name: Carl Svanberg
E-mail: carl.svanberg(at)gmail.com
URL: http://svanberg.wordpress.com/

Congratulations!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 19:27:58 mst
Comment ID: #31
Name: Alfred Centauri
E-mail: alfredcentauri(at)bellsouth.net

Congrats Diana and well done.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 19:55:26 mst
Comment ID: #33
Name: Freddy Ben-Zeev
E-mail: benzeev(at)comcast(dot)net

Congratulations and best wishes.

Freddy

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 23:59:26 mst
Comment ID: #34
Name: Adam Reed
E-mail: adamreedatalumdotmitdotedu
URL: http://borntoidentify.blogspot.com/

Kudos, and Wow!

Adam

Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 6:58:58 mst
Comment ID: #35
Name: Allen Farris
E-mail: afarris(at)mro.nmt.edu

Congratulations!

To be able to pronounce your own work as “new and good philosophical work” is quite an accomplishment.

When you defend your dissertation on the 18th just remember that you are the world’s expert on this subject.

Allen Farris

Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 11:08:44 mst
Comment ID: #36
Name: Dana H.

Great title, BTW. Congratulations.

Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 13:47:49 mst
Comment ID: #37
Name: Valda Redfern
E-mail: valda.redfern(at)gmail.com
URL: http://valzhalla.blogspot.com

Congratulations on the birth of your dissertation (which seems to have attained a good weight) and best wishes for its baptism on the 18th.

Friday, June 5, 2009 at 16:57:45 mst
Comment ID: #38
Name: Gus Van Horn
E-mail: cavanhorn(at)gmail.com
URL: http://gusvanhorn.blogspot.com

Diana,

Congratulations! I know from personal experience what a load off that is. When I fly back home, I'll have to check my page count. It's very close to yours.

Good luck in the defense! (You'll be good, which is better, but why not both lucky and good?)

Gus

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