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Robert L. Holmes

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Robert L. Holmes
Born (1935-12-28) December 28, 1935 (age 88)
Occupation(s)Professor, Scholar
Known forEthics
Political Philosophy
Board member ofFellowship of Reconciliation
AwardsNational Humanitites Institute Fellowship
Fulbright Fellowship
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies Fellowship
Academic background
Alma materHarvard University
University of Michigan
Academic work
Sub-disciplinePhilosophy of Nonviolence
InstitutionsUniversity of Rochester
Main interestsEthics, Social philosophy, Philosophy of war
WebsiteRobert-Holmes.com

Robert L. Holmes (December 28, 1935) is a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Rochester, and an expert on issues of peace and nonviolence. Holmes specializes in ethics, and in social and political philosophy. He has written numerous articles and several books on those topics, and has been invited to address national and international conferences.

Early life

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Holmes was raised in northern New York State by his parents who died when he was still in his teens. He graduated from Watertown High School in 1953 after serving as president of the student council, editor of the school magazine, and captain of a sectional championship cross country team. He also undertook studies in classical piano at the Watertown Conservatory of Music for ten years and won several awards while competing in New York City, Canada and Washington D. C.[1]

Subsequently, Holmes earned his undergraduate degree in Philosophy cum laude from Harvard University in 1957. His honors thesis was "Plato's Concept of God". Soon thereafter he earned an M.A (1959) and Ph.D. (1961) in Philosophy from the University of Michigan, where his dissertation was on "John Dewey's Ethics in the Light of Contemporary Metaethical Theory."[2][3][1]

Career

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The Rush Rhees Library at University of Rochester, as seen from the Eastman Quadrangle.

Holmes joined the faculty at the University of Rochester in 1962.[4] By 1976 he acquired a fellowship at the National Humanities Institute at Yale University. Subsequently in 1982 he was appointed Senior Fulbright Lecturer at Moscow State university.[5] He also served as a Faculty Fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame in 1993.[6] In 1998, Holmes was appointed to the newly established Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Peace and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India, where he shaped the mission of the chair on instruction, research, and lectures.[7][8][9]

While serving on the faculty at the University of Rochester, his lectures were always eagerly anticipated by students of the humanities as well as the sciences. He received the Edward Peck Curtis Award for Undergraduate Teaching in 2001 and the Professor of the Year Award in Humanities in 2006. At the 2007 convocation ceremony, Holmes was awarded the Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Teaching. Also, Holmes is known for being one of the very few professors to receive perfect or near perfect reviews every year since the university began student review services in 2001.[10]

During the course of an academic career which has spanned over forty years, Holmes has held a variety of scholarly positions including: Fulbright Fellow at Moscow State University and a visiting professor at Notre Dame, Hamilton College as well as an instructor at the University of Texas at Austin.[11] In addition, he served as an editor of the philosophical journal Public Affairs Quarterly (1995-1999),[1] contributed to the editorial review boards of both Social Theory and Practice (1975-1995) [12] and The Acorn: Journal of the Gandhi-King Society (1990-2003)[1] and also participated on the national board of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.[13] He was also a longtime adviser to the University of Rochester Undergraduate Philosophy Council.[14] In 1992 he also served as president of the professional organization Concerned Philosophers for Peace which strives to improve international understanding and peace through scholarly analysis of the causes of war.[15]

External image
image icon Photograph of Professor Robert L. Holmes at the University of Rochester on
Rochester.edu

Holmes is the author of several comprehensive texts on the subject of moral philosophy. Included among his publications is a collaborative work undertaken in 1968 with Lewis White Beck - a noted scholar on Kantian ethics (Philosophical Inquiry: An Introduction to Philosophy).[16][17] Subsequently, in 2001 he served as a contributory author to the book Kant's Legacy: Essays in Honor of Lewis White Beck with an essay on Consequentialism and Its Consequences.[18] He also coauthored a work in 2005 with Barry L. Gan - Director of the Center for Nonviolence at St. Bonaventure University (Nonviolence in Theory and Practice).[19][20] In addition, he has published numerous papers in several academic peer-reviewed journals including: Analysis, Ethics, International Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Journal of Value Inquiry, Mind, The Monist, The Philosophical Forum, and The Review of Metaphysics.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]

Holmes is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Rochester but no longer instructs students on campus.[31]

Moral philosophy

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Over the course of the past forty years, Holmes has addressed several interrelated moral dilemmas posed in the modern age including terrorism, nuclear deterrence and armed conflict in general. In his book On War and Morality (1989) he offers a robust philosophical defense of pacifism and its application in a world which is plagued with recurrent outbursts of international violence despite its adherence to upholding the principles of nuclear deterrence and mutual assured destruction (MAD) since the emergence of the cold war era. Holmes rejects a reliance upon such an irrational set of principles and dismisses them as morally wrong. Instead, he advances a form of "moral personalism" based upon the maxim that any intelligible moral theory must include an abiding interest in the lives and well being of all people. In his view, violence is a form of abrogation of this maxim which is prima facia wrong and that Just War Theories in general are inadequate to the task of surmounting such a moral presumption.[32][33][34][35]

Holmes offers a systematic critical review of the two major schools of thought which claim to defend warfare in the modern world. In the first group are the "positivistic realists" who claim that concepts of "right" or "wrong" are irrelevant in international affairs and the "normative realists" who claim that moral considerations should not be permitted to play a role in determining foreign policy. Holmes dismisses the later by observing that they have misread the history of the twentieth century by suggesting the Wilsonian idealism inevitably led to the onset of World War II and confuse morality with moralism.[36][37][38][35]

In the second group, Holmes identifies the defenders of just war theories. Holmes rejects their attempts to justify the taking of innocent human lives in order to save other innocent human lives as morally unjustifiable in so far as both killing and any appeal to violence is morally unjustified in the first place, despite the consequences which may follow from such an act. Even if a war is considered "just" in accordance with the standards of jus ad ballo or jus in bello, it may not be deemed morally acceptable based upon a consideration of the organized violence which it engenders in the modern world[39][40][41][35]

With this in mind, Holmes outlines a four stage argument to support the view that warfare is unjustified even within the context of modern world conditions. First he observes that warfare in general cannot be justified if the means of waging the war are, when taken by themselves, also morally unjustified. Secondly, he contends that modern warfare by its very nature inevitably involves the killing of innocent people. Thirdly, he denies that the presumption against killing innocent people can be overridden by conditions related to the waging of war. Lastly, he identifies nonviolence as an embodiment of a viable alternative to warfare. Specifically, he outlines a Gandhian approach to resolving conflicts, which rejects the utilization of mutual concessions in order to achieve a provisional or temporary standoff between the waring parties. This is replaced with a process of actively creating peace through negotiations which engender mutual progress for all parties involved in the conflict. Taken together, these arguments suggest that an appeal to nonviolence is a viable ethical alternative even within the modern world.[42][43][44][35]

In his more recent book, Pacifism: A Philosophy of Nonviolence Holmes offers a supplement to the analysis presented above. Here, Holmes ventures beyond philosophical considerations of how to best distinguish between just wars and unjust wars in particular and presents an analysis of what he describes as a more "basic moral question" by exploring the general case of whether war is ever morally permissible. This is accomplished by examining the concept of warfare from a more global perspective, as opposed to concentrating primarily on the particular subjective perceptions of "just" or "unjust" outcomes which may prevail among the combatants. With this in mind, he offers a critical review of the "constellation of social, political, economic, religious and ethical values and practices" which are required to wage war systematically over time. He concludes by arguing that a prima facie presumption against warfare in general is sufficiently compelling in the modern era due to a variety of factors including: the killing of both innocent and non-innocents alike, the inevitable displacement of large populations of people, along with the inevitable harm done to both animal life and the environment in the long term.[45] Stated more simply, "To be a pragmatic pacifist one need only hold that the large-scale, organized and systematic violence of war is impermissible in today's world."[46]

Publications

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External videos
video icon You may preview selections from Holmes' book The Ethics of Nonviolence - Essays by Robert L. Holmes on books.google.com

Texts

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Included among Robert L. Holmes publications are the following texts:[47]

  • Basic Moral Philosophy by Robert L. Holmes[48][49]
  • Introduction to Applied Ethics by Robert L. Holmes [50]
  • Kant's Legacy: Essays in Honor of Lewis White Beck Editor: Predrag Cicovacki. Contributor: Robert L. Holmes -"Consequentialism and its Consequences".[51]
  • Nonviolence in Theory and Practice by Robert L. Holmes and Barry L. Gan [52]
  • On War and Morality by Robert L. Holmes [53]
  • Philosophic Inquiry: An Introduction to Philosophy by Lewis White Beck and Robert L. Holmes [16]
  • Pacifism: A Philosophy of Nonviolence by Robert L. Holmes[54]
  • The Ethics of Nonviolence - Essays by Robert L. Holmes Editor: Predrag Cicovacki, Bloomsbury, USA on books.google.com[55][35]
  • The Augustinian Tradition Editor: Gareth B. Matthews. Contributor: Robert L. Holmes - "St. Augustine and the Just War Theory"[56]

Journal articles

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Selected peer-reviewed articles published by Robert L. Holmes include:[57]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Robert L. Holmes biography on robert-holmes.com
  2. ^ University of Rochester - Faculty - Robert L. Holmes Professor Emeritus Professor of Philosophy - PhD. University of Michigan on sas.rochester.edu
  3. ^ "Currents--November 9, 1998". www.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  4. ^ "Currents--November 9, 1998". www.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  5. ^ Fulbright Scholars Program - Robert Holmes (1982) on fulbrightscholars.org
  6. ^ From the Eye of the Storm: Regional Conflicts and the Philosophy of Peace. BRILL. 4 July 2022. p. 319. ISBN 978-90-04-45880-2.
  7. ^ "Currents--November 9, 1998". www.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  8. ^ University of Rochester Press Release: "University of Rochester 151st Commencement Highlights" April 25, 2001, p. 2 "Robert L. Holmes is a professor of philosophy ...appointed to the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Peace and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India" on rochester.edu
  9. ^ Robert L. Holmes - "Positions Held: Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Dehli, India First recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Peace and Disarmament, 1998-1999" biography on robert-holmes.com
  10. ^ "St. Bonaventure University - Noted Expert on Nonviolence to talk about social inequality Thursday at St. Bonaventure" - Robert L. Holmes Biography on sbu.edu
  11. ^ Robert L. Holmes Biography on robert-homes.com
  12. ^ Social Theory and Practice. 1993. p. 114.
  13. ^ Matthews, Gareth B. (1999). The Augustinian Tradition. University of California Press. p. 384. ISBN 0-520-20999-0.
  14. ^ "St. Bonaventure University - Noted Expert on Nonviolence to talk about social inequality Thursday at St. Bonaventure" - Robert L. Holmes Biography on sbu.edu
  15. ^ Concerned Philosophers for Peace - Officers- Presidents on peacephilosophy.org
  16. ^ a b Beck, Lewis White; Holmes, Robert L. (1968). Philosophic Inquiry: An Introduction to Philosophy. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-662494-3.
  17. ^ "Philosopher, Scholar Lewis White Beck Dies" on Rochester.edu.news]
  18. ^ Cicovacki, Predrag (2001). Kant's Legacy: Essays in Honor of Lewis White Beck. University Rochester Press. pp. 227–244. ISBN 1-58046-053-4.
  19. ^ St. Bonaventure University Profiles - Barry L. Gan: Director of the Center for Nonviolence on sbu.edu
  20. ^ Holmes, Robert L.; Gan, Barry L. (2005). Nonviolence in Theory and Practice. Waveland Press. ISBN 978-1-57766-349-2.
  21. ^ Robert L. Holmes on scholar.google.com
  22. ^ a b Holmes, R. L. (1990). "The Limited Relevance of Analytical Ethics to the Problems of Bioethics". Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. 15 (2): 143–159. doi:10.1093/jmp/15.2.143. ISSN 0360-5310. PMID 2351891.
  23. ^ a b Holmes, Robert L. (1974). "Is Morality a System of Hypothetical Imperatives?". Analysis. 34 (3): 96–100. doi:10.2307/3327492. JSTOR 3327492.
  24. ^ a b Holmes, Robert L. (2015). "The Metaethics of Pacifism and Just War Theory". The Philosophical Forum. 46: 3–15. doi:10.1111/phil.12052.
  25. ^ a b Holmes, Robert L. (1966). "John Dewey's Moral Philosophy in Contemporary Perspective". The Review of Metaphysics. 20 (1): 42–70. JSTOR 20124148.
  26. ^ Holmes, Robertl. (1973). "John Dewey's social ethics". The Journal of Value Inquiry. 7 (4). doi:10.1007/BF00208793.
  27. ^ a b Holmes, Robert L. (1964). "The Development of John Dewey's Ethical Thought". The Monist. 48 (3): 392–406. doi:10.5840/monist196448324.
  28. ^ Holmes, Robert L. (1973). "University Neutrality and ROTC". Ethics. 83 (3): 177–195. doi:10.1086/291878.
  29. ^ a b Holmes, Robert L. (1997). "Just War: Principles and Cases". International Philosophical Quarterly. 37 (4): 483–484. doi:10.5840/ipq199737453.
  30. ^ a b Holmes, Robert L. (1964). "The Case Against Ethical Naturalism". Mind. 73 (290): 291–295. doi:10.1093/mind/LXXIII.290.291. JSTOR 2251823.
  31. ^ University of Rochester - Faculty - Robert L. Holmes Professor Emeritus Professor of Philosophy on sas.rochester.edu
  32. ^ Meyers, Diana T. (1992). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes" (PDF). The Philosophical Review. 101 (2): 481–484. doi:10.2307/2185583. JSTOR 2185583.
  33. ^ Rock, Stephen R. (1989). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes; Paths to Peace: Exploring the Feasibility of Sustainable Peace, Richard Smoke, Willis Harman" (PDF). The American Political Science Review. 83 (4): 1447–1448. doi:10.2307/1961738. JSTOR 1961738.
  34. ^ Lee, Steven (1992). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality., Robert L. Holmes" (PDF). Noûs. 26 (4): 559–562. doi:10.2307/2216042. JSTOR 2216042.
  35. ^ a b c d e Holmes, Robert L. (20 June 2013). The Ethics of Nonviolence: Essays by Robert L. Holmes. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-62356-962-4.
  36. ^ Meyers, Diana T. (1992). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes". The Philosophical Review. 101 (2): 481–484. doi:10.2307/2185583. JSTOR 2185583.
  37. ^ Rock, Stephen R. (1989). "Review of On War and Morality; Paths to Peace: Exploring the Feasibility of Sustainable Peace". The American Political Science Review. 83 (4): 1447–1448. doi:10.2307/1961738. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1961738.
  38. ^ Lee, Steven (1992). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality., Robert L. Holmes". Noûs. 26 (4): 559–562. doi:10.2307/2216042. JSTOR 2216042.
  39. ^ Meyers, Diana T. (1992). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes" (PDF). The Philosophical Review. 101 (2): 481–484. doi:10.2307/2185583. JSTOR 2185583.
  40. ^ Rock, Stephen R. (1989). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes; Paths to Peace: Exploring the Feasibility of Sustainable Peace, Richard Smoke, Willis Harman" (PDF). The American Political Science Review. 83 (4): 1447–1448. doi:10.2307/1961738. JSTOR 1961738.
  41. ^ Lee, Steven (1992). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality., Robert L. Holmes" (PDF). Noûs. 26 (4): 559–562. doi:10.2307/2216042. JSTOR 2216042.
  42. ^ Meyers, Diana T. (1992). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes" (PDF). The Philosophical Review. 101 (2): 481–484. doi:10.2307/2185583. JSTOR 2185583.
  43. ^ Lee, Steven (1992). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality., Robert L. Holmes" (PDF). Noûs. 26 (4): 559–562. doi:10.2307/2216042. JSTOR 2216042.
  44. ^ Rock, Stephen R. (1989). "Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes; Paths to Peace: Exploring the Feasibility of Sustainable Peace, Richard Smoke, Willis Harman" (PDF). The American Political Science Review. 83 (4): 1447–1448. doi:10.2307/1961738. JSTOR 1961738.
  45. ^ Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews - "Pacifism A Philosophy of Nonviolence" by Robert L. Holmes. Book review presented by Cheyney Ryan, the University of Oxford 6/7/2017 archived at the University of Notre Dame on ndpr.nd.edu
  46. ^ Pacifism A Philosophy of Nonviolence. Holmes, Robert L. Bloomsbury, London, 2017 pp.265-266, "Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews" - "Pacifism A Philosophy of Nonviolence" Book review presented by Cheyney Ryan, the University of Oxford 6/7/2017 archived at the University of Notre Dame on ndpr.nd.edu
  47. ^ Robert L. Holmes' publications on Google Scholar
  48. ^ Ghiraldelli, Paulo Jr. (February 2008). Contemporary pragmatism. Rodopi. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-90-420-2371-0. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  49. ^ Holmes, Robert L. (8 October 2014). Basic Moral Philosophy. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1-305-89026-8.
  50. ^ Holmes, Robert L. (22 February 2018). Introduction to Applied Ethics. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-350-02982-8.
  51. ^ Cicovacki, Predrag (2001). Kant's Legacy: Essays in Honor of Lewis White Beck. University Rochester Press. ISBN 978-1-58046-053-8.
  52. ^ Holmes, Robert L.; Gan, Barry L. (2005). Nonviolence in Theory and Practice. Waveland Press. ISBN 978-1-57766-349-2.
  53. ^ Holmes, Robert L. (14 July 2014). On War and Morality. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-6014-2.
  54. ^ Holmes, Robert L. (December 2016). Paficism: A Philosophy of Nonviolence. Bloomsbury. pp. 368–. ISBN 978-1-4742-7983-3. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  55. ^ Holmes, Robert L. (20 June 2013). The Ethics of Nonviolence: Essays by Robert L. Holmes. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-62356-580-0.
  56. ^ Matthews, Gareth B. (1999). The Augustinian Tradition. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21001-1.
  57. ^ Robert L. Holmes on scholar.google.com
  58. ^ Holmes, Robert L. (1973). "University Neutrality and ROTC". Ethics. 83 (3): 177–195. doi:10.1086/291878.
  59. ^ Holmes, Robertl. (1973). "John Dewey's social ethics". The Journal of Value Inquiry. 7 (4). doi:10.1007/BF00208793.
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