Attention and virtue
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Philosophy, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Cotugno, Albert
issued: 2025-01-06T18:33:43Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Attention has recently become an important topic in many academic disciplines as well as in society more broadly. Cognitive scientists, including philosophers, have learned much about attention’s nature and functioning, but its normative dimension has been underexplored. Meanwhile, in moral philosophy, virtue ethics has emerged as a compelling alternative to consequentialist and deontological approaches. Important to this school of thought is a psychologically realistic characterization of the virtuous person, yet the role that attention plays in such a person’s life has also been underexplored. This dissertation is motivated by the idea that the lacunae in these two fields can be productively filled through interconnection. Insights from cognitive science can help to illuminate how attention might be directed toward ethical ends, and virtue ethics provides a framework for expressing the full normative significance of so directing it. The following three papers, though independent, jointly motivate the following thesis: reflexive attention paid to one’s mental life, explicitly apprehended as such, can reveal and alter one’s attentional dispositions, and this is a way of cultivating a virtuous perspective on the world. The first presents a novel reading of Hume’s developmental moral psychology and argues that Hume advocated reflexive attention as part of the process of developing a virtue he called “strength of mind.” The second then highlights important developments in the cognitive psychology of affect-biased attention in order to reveal the influence of historical factors on present attentional dispositions. Finally, the third paper describes how, in a virtuous person, attention functions to accentuate opportunities for moral behavior. Taken together, these chapters suggest a view of why attention matters that is insufficiently appreciated in contemporary academic philosophy. Attention is deeply historically situated, and the consequences of present attention rami…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/90054
note: Attention and VirtuebyAlbert CotugnoB.A., New York University, 2012M.A., New York University, 2017A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FORTHE DEGREE OFDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYinThe Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies(Philosophy)THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA(Vancouver)December 2024© Albert Cotugno, 2024The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduateand Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled:Attention and Virtuesubmitted by Albert Cotugno in partial fulfillment of the requirements forthe degree of Doctor of Philosophyin PhilosophyExamining CommitteeEvan Thompson, Professor, Department of Philosophy, UBCSupervisorMatthew Bedke, Professor, Department of Philosophy, UBCSupervisory Committee MemberChristopher Mole, Professor, Department of Philosophy, UBCSupervisory Committee MemberEdward Slingerland, Professor, Department of Philosophy, UBCSupervisory Committee MemberScott Anderson, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, UBCUniversity ExaminerDavid Silver, Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Innovation Group, UBCUniversity ExaminerWayne Wu, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon UniversityExternal ExamineriiAbstractAttention has recently become an important topic in many academic disciplines as well as insociety more broadly. Cognitive scientists, including philosophers, have learned much aboutattention’s nature and functioning, but its normative dimension has been underexplored.Meanwhile, in moral philosophy, virtue ethics has emerged as a compelling alternative toconsequentialist and deontological approaches. Important to this school of thought is apsychologically realistic characterization of the virtuous person, yet the role that attention playsin such a person’s life has also been underexplored.This dissertation is motivated by the idea that the lacunae in these two fields can be productivelyfilled through interconnec…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0447688
language: eng
degree discipline: Philosophy
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Thompson, Evan
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90054