- University of Notre Dame
- John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy
- Residential Fellow (2013-2014)
- "A Theory of Moral Conduct"
Robert Audi is the John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. His research interests focus on ethics, political philosophy, epistemology, religious epistemology, and philosophy of mind and action.
He is the author or editor of numerous books and articles, including Moral Perception (2013, Chinese translation forthcoming); Democratic Authority and the Separation of Church and State (2011); Rationality and Religious Commitment (2011, Italian translation forthcoming); Business Ethics and Ethical Business (2009, Icelandic translation forthcoming); Moral Value and Human Diversity (2007, Spanish translation forthcoming); Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision (2006, Russian translation of Chapter 9 forthcoming); The Good in the Right: A Theory of Intuition and Intrinsic Value (2004); The Architecture of Reason: The Structure and Substance of Rationality (2001); Religious Commitment and Secular Reason (2000); and Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge (1998; third edition, 2010, Italian translation forthcoming).
Audi is a past president of the American Philosophical Association, a former editor of The Journal of Philosophical Research, and a former director of the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institutes and Seminars on knowledge and justification (1981 and 1983), the theory of action (1984), theoretical and practical reason (1987), and naturalism (1993). He is Editor-in-Chief of The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (1995; third edition forthcoming).
Publications
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Reasons, Rights, and Values
Cambridge University Press, 2015
A central concern in recent ethical thinking is reasons for action and their relation to obligations, rights, and values. This collection of recent essays by Robert Audi presents an account of what reasons for action are, how they are related to obligation and rights, and how they figure in virtuous conduct. In addition, Audi reflects in his opening essay on his theory of reasons for action, his common-sense intuitionism, and his widely debated principles for balancing religion and politics. Reasons are shown to be basic elements in motivation, grounded in experience, and crucial for justifying actions and for understanding rights. Audi’s clear and engaging essays make these advanced debates accessible to students as well as scholars, and this volume will be a valuable resource for readers interested in ethical theory, political theory, applied ethics, or philosophy of action.