Interview with Stephen Darwall, University of Michigan

Abstract

Stephen Darwall is the John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan. [Editor’s note: since this interview was conducted, Darwall has been named the Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. The University of Michigan has designated him the John Dewey Distinguished University Professor Emeritus.] His research has centered on the foundations and history of ethics and moral theory, and he is the author of several important works in these areas, including: Impartial Reason (1983), The British Moralists and the Internal 'Ought': 1640-1740 (1995), Philosophical Ethics (1988), Welfare and Rational Care (2002), and The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability (2006). This interview was conducted by Matthew Noah Smith, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, whose work focuses on political theory and the philosophy of law.