Headshot of Dr.G. Scott  Davis

Dr. G. Scott Davis

Professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law, Emeritus
  • Profile
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    • Grants and Fellowships

      Stockdale Fellow in Ethics, United States Naval Academy, 2012-2013


      National Endwoment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, Rutgers University, 1996


      Princeton University Center for Human Values Fellowship, 2000-2001


      Jessie Ball Dupont Seminar, National Humanities Center, 1999


      Whiting Fellow in the Humanities, 1978-1979, Princeton University


      Jonathan Edwards Fellowship, 1975-1978, Princeton University

    • Presentations

      “Memory, Meaning, and Intention: Assessing the First World War,” delivered as part of a symposium, “The Legacy of the First World War,” Florida State University, 9 December 2016

      “How to Write a Book: Wayne Proudfoot’s Religious Experience at 30,” delivered at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, 22 November 2015

      “Semantics, Truth, and the Study of Religion,” delivered at the XXI Quinquinnial Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, Erfurt, 23 August 2015

      "Method and Metaphysics" invited paper for the 27th Annual Philosophy of Religion Conference, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, 10 February 2006

      "Anomalous Monism and the Study of Religion" delivered at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Philadelphia, 18 November 2005

      "Aristotelian Privacy: Perfectionism, Pornography, and the Virtues of the Polis" delivered at the annual meeting of the Association for Legal and Social Philosophy, Glasgow, 23 June 2005

      "The Unity of the Virtues in Abelard's Dialogus." Proceedings of the XIth Annual Conference on Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, pp. 71-82. Villanova, Pa., 1986.

    • Professional Experience

      Professor of Religion, Princeton University (1992-1994)


      Professor of Religion, University of Southern California (1988-1992)


      Professor of Religion, Columbia University (1983-1988)

  • Publications
    Books

    Warcraft and the Fragility of Virtue: An Essay in Aristotelian Ethics. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1992. Reprinted with new forward , Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011.

    Journal Articles

    “How to Write a Book: Wayne Proudfoot’s Religious Experience at Thirty,” The Journal of American Philosophy and Theology, 38/1, 2017, pp. 10-18

    “Explanation, Science, and Religion,” Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion 3/1, 2015, pp. 49-53

    “The Elimination of ‘Violence’ in Just War Thinking,” Journal of Religion and Violence, 3/3, 2015, pp. 365-368

    Islam Observed: Another Neglected Classic of Comparative Religious Ethics,” Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 98/3, 2015, pp. 377-397

    “Two Neglected Classics of Comparative Ethics,” Journal of Religious Ethics, 36/3, September 2008, pp. 375-403

    "Humanitarian Intervention and Just War Criteria." Journal for Peace and Justice Studies 12 (2002): 63-94.

    "Doing What Comes Naturally: Recent Work in the New Natural Law Theory." Religion 31 (2001): 407-433.

    "Conquest and Conscience: Francisco de Vitoria on Justice in the New World." Modern Theology 13 (1997): 475-500.

    "Irony and Argument in Dialogues XII." Religious Studies 27 (1991): 239-257.

    "`Et quod vis fac': Paul Ramsey and Augustinian Ethics" Journal of Religious Ethics 19 (1991): 31-69.

    "Ethical Properties and Divine Commands." Journal of Religious Ethics 2 (1983): 280-300.

    Book Chapters

    "Angles of Influence: Jihad and Just War in Medieval and Early Modern Spain," in Sohail Hashmi, ed. Just Wars, Holy Wars, and Jihads Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 125-145

    "Aristotelian Privacy: Perfectionism, Pornography, and the Virtues of the Polis" in Glen Newey, ed. Freedom of Speech: Counting the Costs  Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, pp. 54-73

    "Comparative Ethics and the Crucible of War." In Torkel Brekke, ed., The Ethics of War in Asian Civilizations, pp. 1-36. London: Routledge/Curzon, 2005.