Faculty

neera badhwar

Neera Badhwar Professor
Ph.D., Toronto
Research areas: Ethics, Moral Psychology, Political Philosophy, International Ethics

609 Dale Hall Tower
(405) 325-6107
nbad@ou.edu
office hours

My main project is a book for Oxford University Press on virtue and happiness, with the working title, Happiness as the Highest Good (abstract). Since human evil is a major threat to happiness, I am also interested in the question of how to avoid evil and how to respond to it. Other research interests include International Ethics (on which I have directed two interdisciplinary conferences and published one paper), and the role of markets in promoting civic friendship and civility.

Courses taught:

Introduction to Philosophy (Honors) (1013), Spring 2007 (and other years)
History of Ethics (3253/3853) Fall 2008 (and several times)
Philosophy and Literature (3033) Spring 2005 (and other years)
Philosophy and Film (3043) Spring 2006 (and other years)
Ethical Theory (4293/5293) (many times)
Happiness (6203), Fall 2003 and Spring 2008, with different readings.
Understanding Evil (6203), Fall 2006 (and other years with different readings).
Ethical Naturalism (6203), Fall 2005
Responses to Wrongdoing in Legal and Personal Ethics (6793), Fall 2000
Ethical Dimensions of the Self (6203), Fall 1998
Topics in Virtue Ethics (6203), Fall 1997

Selected awards:

Laurance S. Rockefeller Fellowship, University Center for Human Values,
Princeton University, 1996-97.
NEH Distinguished Visiting Professor, SUNY Potsdam, Fall 1999.
Visiting Scholar, Social Philosophy and Policy Center, Spring 2008.

Selected articles:

Click here for full CV (.doc)

The Milgram Experiments, Learned Helplessness, and Character Traits (forthcoming in The Journal of Ethics). (.pdf)

“Is Realism Really Bad for You? A Realistic Response,” The Journal of Philosophy, V. CV, No. 2, February 2008, 85-107. (.pdf)

“Friendship and Commercial Societies,” Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, August 2008, V. 7, No. 3, 301-326. (.doc)

"Carnal Wisdom and Sexual Virtue,” in Raja Halwani ed., Sex and Ethics: Essays on Sexuality, Virtue, and the Good Life (Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), 134-46. (.doc)

“Experiments in Living,” The Philosophers’ Magazine (the Mill bicentenary issue), Issue 35, 3rd quarter (2006), 58-61. (.doc)

“International Aid: When Giving Becomes a Vice,” Social Philosophy and Policy, issue on Justice and Global Politics, Vol. 23, Winter 2006, and in E. Paul, J. Paul, and F. Miller, eds. Justice and Global Politics (Cambridge University Press), 69-101. (.doc)

“Friendship and Sexuality,” in Alan Soble, ed. Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia; 2005, 390-97. (.doc)

"Love," in Hugh LaFollete, ed. Oxford Handbook of Practical Ethics (OUP, 2003), pp. 42-69. (.pdf)

"Friendship," Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Routledge, 1998), 5,046 words (online). (.doc)

"Moral Agency, Commitment, and Impartiality," Social Philosophy and Policy, Vol. 13, 1996, 1-26, and in Community, Individual, and the State, ed. E. Paul (Cambridge University Press). (.doc)

“The Nature and Significance of Friendship,” in N. Badhwar, ed. Friendship: A Philosophical Reader (Cornell Univ. Press, 1993), pp. 1-36. (.doc)

"Altruism vs Self-Interest: Sometimes a False Dichotomy," Social Philosophy and Policy, V. 10, Jan. 1993, pp. 90-117 and in Altruism, ed. E. F. Paul (Cambridge University Press, 1993). (.doc)

"The Circumstances of Justice: Liberalism, Community, and Friendship" (pp. 208-34), Journal of Political Philosophy, Vol. I, June 1993. (.doc)

"Why It's Wrong to be Always Guided by the Best: Friendship and Consequentialism," Ethics, April 1991, pp. 483-504. (.doc)