Alex Tuckne
Biographic Data
| ID | 1164586 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alex Tuckne |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alex |
| FAMILY NAME | Tuckne |
| SIGNATURE | TUCKNE A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Iowa State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0948-4366 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Impartial Spectators and Legislators: Adam Smith and Religion
The eighteenth century is often thought of as an important era for the secularization of British philosophy. One dimension of this secularization involves philosophers developing theories that, while not explicitly rejecting God, are less reliant on claims about God for their intelligibility and plausibility. A comparison of Adam Smith with his teacher, Francis Hutcheson, reveals an underappreciated facet of this process. Hutcheson portrayed God …
The Decline of Mercy in Public Life
The virtue of mercy is widely admired, but is now marginalized in contemporary public life. Yet for centuries it held a secure place in western public discourse without implying a necessary contradiction with justice. Alex Tuckness and John M. Parrish ask how and why this changed. Examining Christian and non-Christian ancient traditions, along with Kantian and utilitarian strains of thought, they offer a persuasive account of how our perception o…
International Justice in Ethical Decision-Making: Expanding the Role
Although the actions of government officials affect those who live in other countries, little attention has been paid to the role of international justice in how decision makers make ethical decisions. This study describes different areas in which administrative actions have an impact abroad and analyzes arguments for and against a role for international justice in decision-making. Public servants may legitimately prioritize their primary constit…
Retribution and Restitution in Locke’s Theory of Punishment
Locke’s theory of punishment initially appears to be a confused combination of retributive considerations that base punishment on desert and forward-looking considerations that base punishment on future benefits. A more coherent theory emerges, however, if his argument is set in its historical context and compared with that of Grotius, Hobbes, and Pufendorf. Locke rejected retributivism in all but its weakest version and grounded punishment in tw…
Everybody Does It: An Analysis of a Common Excuse
Making and evaluating excuses is a central part of administrative ethics. This article examines one of the most common excuses, "Everybody does it," by first providing examples of cases where the excuse might be used to justify action in public administration settings and then distinguishing several different senses of the excuse. "Everybody does it" may be an appeal to consensus, to tacit consent, or to fairness. The article provides tools for i…
John Locke and Public Administration
John Locke, whose thought greatly influenced the American founding, makes an important contribution to contemporary public administration theory and to our understanding of the history of American public administration. Locke's theory gives an account of why it is legitimate for public administrators to sometimes perform functions that are legislative or judicial in nature and encourages public administrators to interpret directives from those wi…
Punishment, Property, and the Limits of Altruism: Locke's International Asymmetry
The standard interpretation of Locke assumes symmetry between punishment by individuals in the state of nature and punishment by states in the state of nature. The standard interpretation is incorrect because in cases where the punishment is altruistic, the state is not the functional equivalent of a person, having a more restricted power to punish. The asymmetry arises from Locke's contractualism because individuals in the state of nature might …
Discourses of Resistance in the American Revolution
Debates over whether the discourse used to justify resistance during the American Revolution was "liberal" or "republican" often obscure the more central question of why and how early American thinkers were able to combine strands of political thought that many modern scholars find contradictory. The arguments the Americans used to justify resistance are better understood as falling into four types that were not understood to be mutually exclusiv…
Rethinking the Intolerant Locke
terization would indicate. The public good is defined from God's perspec? tive as a reasonable legislator who takes into account the fallibility of human agents. There is evidence that Locke was implicitly using this ap? proach in the first Letter. Locke's theoretical approach is a plausible and provocative starting point for contemporary reflection on the sub? ject of toleration and might persuade persons who reject more well known arguments for…
Legislation and Non‐neutral Principles: A Lockean Approach
When citizens and legislators attempt to justify coercive acts, such as fines or imprisonment, they often do so on the basis of controversial justificatory principles. There are at least two ways a principle can be controversial: one may claim that the principle in question is false; or one may claim that the principle, correctly applied, does not actually justify the specific act in question. Thus, suppose the state invokes the principle ‘false …
Rethinking the Intolerant Locke
terization would indicate. The public good is defined from God's perspec? tive as a reasonable legislator who takes into account the fallibility of human agents. There is evidence that Locke was implicitly using this ap? proach in the first Letter. Locke's theoretical approach is a plausible and provocative starting point for contemporary reflection on the sub? ject of toleration and might persuade persons who reject more well known arguments for…
Retribution and Restitution in Locke’s Theory of Punishment
Locke’s theory of punishment initially appears to be a confused combination of retributive considerations that base punishment on desert and forward-looking considerations that base punishment on future benefits. A more coherent theory emerges, however, if his argument is set in its historical context and compared with that of Grotius, Hobbes, and Pufendorf. Locke rejected retributivism in all but its weakest version and grounded punishment in tw…
Everybody Does It: An Analysis of a Common Excuse
Making and evaluating excuses is a central part of administrative ethics. This article examines one of the most common excuses, "Everybody does it," by first providing examples of cases where the excuse might be used to justify action in public administration settings and then distinguishing several different senses of the excuse. "Everybody does it" may be an appeal to consensus, to tacit consent, or to fairness. The article provides tools for i…
Punishment, Property, and the Limits of Altruism: Locke's International Asymmetry
The standard interpretation of Locke assumes symmetry between punishment by individuals in the state of nature and punishment by states in the state of nature. The standard interpretation is incorrect because in cases where the punishment is altruistic, the state is not the functional equivalent of a person, having a more restricted power to punish. The asymmetry arises from Locke's contractualism because individuals in the state of nature might …
Legislation and Non‐neutral Principles: A Lockean Approach
When citizens and legislators attempt to justify coercive acts, such as fines or imprisonment, they often do so on the basis of controversial justificatory principles. There are at least two ways a principle can be controversial: one may claim that the principle in question is false; or one may claim that the principle, correctly applied, does not actually justify the specific act in question. Thus, suppose the state invokes the principle ‘false …
Legislation and Non‐neutral Principles: A Lockean Approach
When citizens and legislators attempt to justify coercive acts, such as fines or imprisonment, they often do so on the basis of controversial justificatory principles. There are at least two ways a principle can be controversial: one may claim that the principle in question is false; or one may claim that the principle, correctly applied, does not actually justify the specific act in question. Thus, suppose the state invokes the principle ‘false …
Rethinking the Intolerant Locke
terization would indicate. The public good is defined from God's perspec? tive as a reasonable legislator who takes into account the fallibility of human agents. There is evidence that Locke was implicitly using this ap? proach in the first Letter. Locke's theoretical approach is a plausible and provocative starting point for contemporary reflection on the sub? ject of toleration and might persuade persons who reject more well known arguments for…
Discourses of Resistance in the American Revolution
Debates over whether the discourse used to justify resistance during the American Revolution was "liberal" or "republican" often obscure the more central question of why and how early American thinkers were able to combine strands of political thought that many modern scholars find contradictory. The arguments the Americans used to justify resistance are better understood as falling into four types that were not understood to be mutually exclusiv…
John Locke and Public Administration
John Locke, whose thought greatly influenced the American founding, makes an important contribution to contemporary public administration theory and to our understanding of the history of American public administration. Locke's theory gives an account of why it is legitimate for public administrators to sometimes perform functions that are legislative or judicial in nature and encourages public administrators to interpret directives from those wi…
Punishment, Property, and the Limits of Altruism: Locke's International Asymmetry
The standard interpretation of Locke assumes symmetry between punishment by individuals in the state of nature and punishment by states in the state of nature. The standard interpretation is incorrect because in cases where the punishment is altruistic, the state is not the functional equivalent of a person, having a more restricted power to punish. The asymmetry arises from Locke's contractualism because individuals in the state of nature might …
Retribution and Restitution in Locke’s Theory of Punishment
Locke’s theory of punishment initially appears to be a confused combination of retributive considerations that base punishment on desert and forward-looking considerations that base punishment on future benefits. A more coherent theory emerges, however, if his argument is set in its historical context and compared with that of Grotius, Hobbes, and Pufendorf. Locke rejected retributivism in all but its weakest version and grounded punishment in tw…
Everybody Does It: An Analysis of a Common Excuse
Making and evaluating excuses is a central part of administrative ethics. This article examines one of the most common excuses, "Everybody does it," by first providing examples of cases where the excuse might be used to justify action in public administration settings and then distinguishing several different senses of the excuse. "Everybody does it" may be an appeal to consensus, to tacit consent, or to fairness. The article provides tools for i…
International Justice in Ethical Decision-Making: Expanding the Role
Although the actions of government officials affect those who live in other countries, little attention has been paid to the role of international justice in how decision makers make ethical decisions. This study describes different areas in which administrative actions have an impact abroad and analyzes arguments for and against a role for international justice in decision-making. Public servants may legitimately prioritize their primary constit…
The Decline of Mercy in Public Life
The virtue of mercy is widely admired, but is now marginalized in contemporary public life. Yet for centuries it held a secure place in western public discourse without implying a necessary contradiction with justice. Alex Tuckness and John M. Parrish ask how and why this changed. Examining Christian and non-Christian ancient traditions, along with Kantian and utilitarian strains of thought, they offer a persuasive account of how our perception o…
Impartial Spectators and Legislators: Adam Smith and Religion
The eighteenth century is often thought of as an important era for the secularization of British philosophy. One dimension of this secularization involves philosophers developing theories that, while not explicitly rejecting God, are less reliant on claims about God for their intelligibility and plausibility. A comparison of Adam Smith with his teacher, Francis Hutcheson, reveals an underappreciated facet of this process. Hutcheson portrayed God …
Political science (10 works) · Law (9 works) · American Constitutional Law and Politics (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Law and economics (5 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Politics (4 works)