b. 1944
Patricia Greenspan is an American analytic philosopher known for her work on moral psychology, practical reason, and the role of emotions in ethics. She has made significant contributions to debates on moral dilemmas, emotional justification, and the logic of defeasible obligations. Her work bridges metaethics and the psychology of moral agency.
Developed an influential account of emotional justification without full belief in Emotions and Reasons (1988)
Analyzed moral dilemmas and agent-regret in Practical Guilt: Moral Dilemmas, Emotions, and Social Norms (1995)
Contributed to debates on time-indexed and defeasible obligations in deontic logic
Argued for the rationality of guilt as a motivating moral emotion
Advanced the view that emotions can be appropriate without being fully reducible to propositional attitudes