Dr. Philip Reed (department of Philosophy, School of Arts & Sciences) is the recipient of a Mission & Identity Fellowship for summer 2013. Rev. Michael Tunney, S.J., director of the Office of Mission & Identity, oversaw the process that concluded Friday, January 18 with the award.
Professor Reed’s project is entitled “A Christian Evaluation of the Desire for Esteem.”
This project aims to further Dr. Reed’s ongoing research on the moral theory of David Hume, particularly the role that the desire for esteem plays in Hume’s account of moral motivation. Reed continues, “For Christians, this issue takes on personal significance and leads in a specific direction at the crossroads of moral theory and virtue ethics. The problem, in short, is this: the Christian tradition seems to unqualified condemn the desire for esteem. And yet, if Hume (and others) are right, it is highly useful as a motive to virtue…. My objective is to obtain a scholarly work that addresses the tension described and proposes a satisfactory philosophical and theological solution.”
Fr. Tunney commended Professor Reed’s proposal for its response to the college’s strategic plan calling for excellence in our academic programs and faculty, the goals of the Mission & Identity Office, and its concerns for ethics and the moral life in a community of human beings. Echoing commendations from the review process, Fr. Tunney also noted Dr. Reed’s proposal epitomizes the best scholarly work in the college’s School of Arts and Sciences.
Submitted by: Rev. Michael Tunney, S.J., director, mission & identity
