Contact

Affiliations
  • Faculty, University of Newcastle
  • PhD, University of Sheffield, 2004.

Areas of specialization
  • None specified

Areas of interest

blank
About me
Not much to say..
My works
27 items found. Sort by:
  • Thom Brooks, Climate Change and Negative Duties.
    It is widely accepted by the scientific community and beyond that human beings are primarily responsible for climate change and that climate change has brought with it a number of real problems. These problems include, but are not limited to, greater threats to coastal communities, greater risk of famine, and greater risk that tropical diseases may spread to new territory. In keeping with J. S. Mill's 'Harm Principle', green political theorists often respond that if we are contributing a harm to (...)
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, The Problem with Polygamy.
    Polygamy is a hotly contested practice and open to widespread misunderstandings. This practice is defined as a relationship between either one husband and multiple wives or one wife and multiple husbands. Today, 'polygamy' almost exclusively takes the form of one husband with multiple wives. In this article, my focus will centre on limited defences of polygamy offered recently by Chesire Calhoun and Martha Nussbaum. I will argue that these defences are unconvincing. The problem with polygamy is primarily that it is (...)
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, Punishing States That Cause Global Poverty.
    The problem of global poverty has reached terrifying proportions. Since the end of the Cold War, ordinary deaths from starvation and preventable diseases amount to approximately 250 million people, most of them children. Thomas Pogge argues that wealthy states have a responsibility to help those in severe poverty. This responsibility arises from the foreseeable and avoidable harm the current global institutional order has perpetrated on poor states. Pogge demands that wealthy states eradicate global poverty not merely because they have the (...)
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, Between Natural Law and Legal Positivism: Dworkin and Hegel on Legal Theory.
    In this article, I argue that - despite the absence of any clear influence of one theory on the other - the legal theories of Dworkin and Hegel share several similar and, at times, unique positions that join them together within a distinctive school of legal theory, sharing a middle position between natural law and legal positivism. In addition, each theory can help the other in addressing certain internal difficulties. By recognizing both Hegel and Dworkin as proponents of a position (...)
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, Moral Sentiments and the Justification of Punishment.
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, Does Philosophy Deserve a Place at the Supreme Court?
    This Comment demonstrates that policy judgements are not masked by philosophical references, nor do philosophers play any crucial role in contentious judicial decisions. Neomi Rao’s study is flawed for many reasons: incomplete content analysis, poor assessment of data, and an inadequate definition of philosophy. She should be criticised for hypocritically praising Court philosopher references in some instances and not others, especially with regard to the Court’s early development. This Comment searched unsuccessfully for an instance where philosophers were cited just once (...)
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, On the Importance of the Phenomenology's Preface.
    I want to raise the question of why we should give the Preface this special treatment. What do we hope to learn from such an extended examination of the Preface that will help further the study of Hegel's work beyond its present state? My comments will be limited to a few central issues, such as (a) the relationship between the Phenomenology and the system, (b) the Phenomenology as an introduction to the system, and (c) the Phenomenology as a ladder, in (...)
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, Publishing Advice for Graduate Students.
    Graduate students often lack concrete advice on publishing. This essay is an attempt to fill this important gap. Advice is given on how to publish everything from book reviews to articles, replies to book chapters, and how to secure both edited book contracts and authored monograph contracts, along with plenty of helpful tips and advice on the publishing world (and how it works) along the way in what is meant to be a comprehensive, concrete guide to publishing that should be (...)
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, Plato, Hegel, and Democracy.
    Nearly every major philosophy, from Plato to Hegel and beyond, has argued that democracy is an inferior form of government, at best. Yet, virtually every contemporary political philosophy working today - whether in an analytic or postmodern tradition - endorses democracy in one variety or another. Should we conclude then that the traditional canon is meaningless for helping us theorize about a just state? In this paper, I will take up the criticisms and positive proposals of two such canonical figures (...)
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks, The Capabilities Approach, Religious Practices, and the Importance of Recognition.
    When can ever be justified in banning a religious practice? This paper focusses on Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach. Certain religious practices create a clash between capabilities where the capability to religious belief and expression is in conflict with the capability of equal status and nondiscrimination. One example of such a clash is the case of polygamy. Nussbaum argues that there may be circumstances where polygamy may be acceptable. On the contrary, I argue that the capabilities approach cannot justify polygamy in (...)
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2009). A Critique of Pragmatism and Deliberative Democracy. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 45 (1):pp. 50-54.
    This paper offers two potential worries in Robert B. Talisse's A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy. The first worry is that is that the picture of democracy on offer is incomplete. While Talisse correctly argues that democracy is about more than elections, democracy is also about more than deliberation between citizens. Talisse's deliberative democracy is problematic to the degree its view of deliberation fails to account for democracy. The second worry we may have concerns the relationship between Talisse's Peircean pragmatism and (...)
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation  | Other links: muse.jhu.edu   | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2008). Shame on You, Shame on Me? Nussbaum on Shame Punishment. Journal of Applied Philosophy 25 (4):322-334.
    abstract  Shame punishments have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional punishments, often taking the form of convicted criminals holding signs or sweeping streets with a toothbrush. In her Hiding from Humanity, Martha Nussbaum argues against the use of shame punishments because they contribute to an offender's loss of dignity. However, these concerns are shared already by the courts which also have concerns about the possibility that shaming might damage an offender's dignity. This situation has not led the courts to (...)
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2008). A Two-Tiered Reparations Theory: A Reply to Wenar. Journal of Social Philosophy 39 (4):666-669.
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2007). Hiding From Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law. Journal of Applied Philosophy 24 (3):329–331.
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation  | Other links: interscience.wiley.com   | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2007). Review of Bradley L. Herling, The German Gita: Hermeneutics and Discipline in the German Reception of Indian Thought. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007 (3).
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2006). Knowledge and Power in Plato's Political Thought. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 14 (1):51 – 77.
    Plato justifies the concentration and exercise of power for persons endowed with expertise in political governance. This article argues that this justification takes two distinctly different sets of arguments. The first is what I shall call his 'ideal political philosophy' described primarily in the Republic as rule by philosopher-kings wielding absolute authority over their subjects. Their authority stems solely from their comprehension of justice, from which they make political judgements on behalf of their city-state. I call the second set of (...)
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2006). Review of A. Raghuramaraju, Debates in Indian Philosophy: Classical, Colonial, and Contemporary. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2006 (12).
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2005). Hegel's Ambiguous Contribution to Legal Theory. Res Publica 11 (1).
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2005). Kantian Punishment and Retributivism: A Reply to Clark. Ratio 18 (2):237–245.
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation  | Other links: interscience.wiley.com   | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2005). Review of Alfred Denker (Ed.), Michael Vater (Ed.), Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: New Critical Essays. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2005 (6).
    No categories
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2004). A Defence of Jury Nullification. Res Publica 10 (4).
    In both Great Britain and the United States there has been a growing debate about the modern acceptability of jury nullification. Properly understood, juries do not have any constitutional right to ignore the law, but they do have the power to do so nevertheless. Juries that nullify may be motivated by a variety of concerns: too harsh sentences, improper government action, racism, etc. In this article, I shall attempt to defend jury nullification on a number of grounds. First, I discuss (...)
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2004). Retributivist Arguments Against Capital Punishment. Journal of Social Philosophy 35 (2):188–197.
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation  | Other links: interscience.wiley.com   | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2004). The Right to Trial by Jury. Journal of Applied Philosophy 21 (2):197–212.
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation  | Other links: interscience.wiley.com   | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2004). Hegel, Nietzsche, and Philosophy: Thinking Freedom by Will Dudley Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, Pp. 326 + XVII. £45. Philosophy 79 (1):149-153.
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2004). Editorial. Journal of Moral Philosophy 1 (1).
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation  | Other links: mpj.sagepub.com   | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2002). In Search of Iva: Mahādviyakka's V&Raaivism. Asian Philosophy 12 (1):21 – 34.
    Mahādviyakka was a radical 12th century Karnataka saint of whom surprisingly little has been written. Considered the most poetic of the Vraaivas, her vacanas are characterized by their desperate searching for iva. I attempt to convey Mahādvi's epistemology and its struggle to 'know' iva, necessitating a lifetime of searching for him; offer an interpretation of the innate presence of iva in the world and its consequences for epistemology; and explore the sense of tragic love inherent in devotional searching for iva. (...)
    In my reading list   |  Discuss this article  |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
  • Thom Brooks (2001). Corlett on Kant, Hegel, and Retribution. Philosophy 76 (4):561-580.
    The purpose of this essay is to critically appraise J. Angelo Corlett's recent interpretation of Kant's theory of punishment as well as his rejection of Hegel's penology. In taking Kant to be a retributivist at a primary level and a proponent of deterrence at a secondary level, I believe Corlett has inappropriately wed together Kant's distinction between moral and positive law. Moreover, his support of Kant on these grounds is misguided as it is instead Hegel who holds such a distinction. (...)
    In my reading list   |  Edit  |  Categorize  |  
     
    My bibliography  |
     
    Export citation | Scholar | More..
Is this list right?