Here is the link to the American Catholic Philosophical Association's 2009 conference, with the theme "Reasoning in Context." It looks like some good papers will be given. My paper, “Clarifying two Central Issues in Double Effect Reasoning Debates," which you have seen a version of on this blog, will be given Saturday evening. Thanks for all the input and support fellow blogoi!

Here's the abstract: "The principles whereby the reason operates in ethically complicated situations has been subject to long-standing debates in Catholic Philosophy. A classic text which exemplifies this is Aquinas' consideration of self-defensive killing. In this paper I clarify two central issues in double-effect reasoning debates surrounding this text. Both issues are connected to the seemingly simple but actually complex task of accounting for the 'chosen means' of self-defense. The first issue is whether the 'chosen means' are also able to be considered a 'proximate end,' to which the intention is directed. The second is determining whether the assailant's death is related to the 'chosen means' per se and therefore to the rest of the moral action. Resolving these issues provide grounds for answering the broader question implicit in the situation of self-defensive killing: what is to be done when human actions would inevitably entail that some evil is instrumentally tied to realizing some good?"