The self-other asymmetry is a prominent and important feature of common-sense morality. It is also a feature that does not find a home in standard versions of act-utilitarianism. Theodore Sider has attempted to make a place for it by constructing a novel version of utilitarianism that incorporates the asymmetry into its framework. So far as I know, it is the best attempt to bring the two together. I argue, however, that Sider's ingenious attempt fails. I also offer a diagnosis that (...) explains why no theory that remains recognizably act-utilitarian can successfully incorporate the asymmetry. (shrink)

This essay considers how current theories of narrative inform how we read the complexities of the relationship among Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar in Gen. 16.4-5. It argues that, while we may no longer have access to the oral counter narrative of Gen. 16.4-5, deconstructive criticism, which–among other things – teaches us that a text can be most revealing in those places in which it is most notably silent, may allow for a possible recovery of the oral, unrecorded narrative of the (...) servant Hagar. (shrink)