Sterling Voss Harwood is an American professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

, lecturer, author and attorney based in San Jose, California

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

. His law practice primarily concerns family law, real estate law, personal injury cases, criminal law, and debtor/creditor/bankruptcy law.

Education

Prof. Harwood received his M.A. (1986) and Ph.D. (1992) degrees in philosophy from Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 and while there received his J.D.

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 in law from Cornell Law School

Cornell Law School

Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University and one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees...

 in 1983. In 1980 he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland, College Park

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

, where he earned his B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 with general honors and highest honors in philosophy and was elected Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year there (1979).

Teaching career

Since 1982 Harwood has taught at Cornell Law School

Cornell Law School

Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University and one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees...

 (1989), Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 (1982–1989), Lincoln Law School of San Jose

Lincoln Law School of San Jose

Lincoln Law School of San Jose is a private, non-profit law school in San Jose, California. It is an independent institution, formerly a part of Lincoln University.-History:The school traces its roots to 1919 when Dr...

 (2007 to date), Evergreen Valley College

Evergreen Valley College

Evergreen Valley College is a community college located on in the southeastern foothills of San José, Santa Clara County, California. As of Fall 2008, more than 8,000 students from more than 70 countries were enrolled....

 (2001 to date), San Jose City College

San Jose City College

San Jose City College, founded in 1921, is a community college located in the city of San Jose, Santa Clara County, California.San Jose City College was originally called San Jose Junior College and operated in downtown San Jose, California...

 (1995 to date), San Jose State University

San José State University

San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...

 (1989-1996 & 2008), Illinois State University

Illinois State University

Illinois State University , founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in Illinois; it is located in the town of Normal. ISU is considered a "national university" that grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research; it is also recognized as one of the top ten largest...

 (1988), University of Phoenix

University of Phoenix

The University of Phoenix is a for-profit institution of higher learning. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo Group Inc. which is publicly traded , an S&P 500 corporation based in Phoenix, Arizona...

 (1998–2004), Foothill College

Foothill College

Foothill College is a community college located in Los Altos Hills, California and is part of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957 by Founding Superintendent and President Dr. Calvin C. Flint.-History:...

, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. In athletics, however, the two schools compete with separate teams, known as the Hobart Statesmen and the...

 (1989), Chabot College

Chabot College

Chabot College is a community college located in Hayward, California.-Campus:The campus has a 200-seat theatre, a 1,432-seat performing arts center, a full-size planetarium, four major athletic fields, an HD television studio, and an Olympic-class swimming pool.-History:Chabot College was the first...

, Gavilan College

Gavilan College

Gavilan College is a community college located in Gilroy, California.The college was established in 1919 as the San Benito County Junior College. It operated as such until 1963, when a new community college district was drawn that included both San Benito County and southern Santa Clara County...

, and at other colleges and universities.

Partial bibliography

Harwood has authored numerous publications including his book Judicial Activism: A Restrained Defense, (to be republished by the University Press of America, forthcoming.) He criticizes utilitarianism

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...

 in his essay "Eleven Objections to Utilitarianism". In the article "Against MacIntyre's Relativistic Communitarianism" Harwood criticizes the communitarianism

Communitarianism

Communitarianism is an ideology that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. That community may be the family unit, but it can also be understood in a far wider sense of personal interaction, of geographical location, or of shared history.-Terminology:Though the term...

 of Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a British philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but known also for his work in history of philosophy and theology...

. Harwood defends conditional knowledge against skepticism

Skepticism

Skepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...

 in his essay "Taking Skepticism Seriously—and in Context". He defends an inheritance tax

Inheritance tax

An inheritance tax or estate tax is a levy paid by a person who inherits money or property or a tax on the estate of a person who has died...

 in his article "Is Inheritance Immoral?". He defends moral realism

Moral realism

Moral realism is the meta-ethical view which claims that:# Ethical sentences express propositions.# Some such propositions are true.# Those propositions are made true by objective features of the world, independent of subjective opinion....

 and criticizes moral relativism

Moral relativism

Moral relativism may be any of several descriptive, meta-ethical, or normative positions. Each of them is concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different people and cultures:...

 in his essay "Taking Ethics Seriously—Moral Relativism versus Moral Realism". He criticizes Marxism

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

 in his article "Madisonian Democracy and Marxist Analysis". In his essay "Conceptually Necessary Links between Law and Morality" Harwood uses the minimum content of natural law developed by the famous advocate of legal positivism

Legal positivism

Legal positivism is a school of thought of philosophy of law and jurisprudence, largely developed by nineteenth-century legal thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. However, the most prominent figure in the history of legal positivism is H.L.A...

 H.L.A. Hart to defend a modest version of natural law

Natural law

Natural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...

. Harwood criticizes the legal doctrine of stare decisis

Stare decisis

Stare decisis is a legal principle by which judges are obliged to respect the precedents established by prior decisions...

 in his article "Weaken Stare Decisis: On Burton's Judging in Good Faith". Harwood defends the compatibility of mercy

Mercy

Mercy is broad term that refers to benevolence, forgiveness and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social and legal contexts.The concept of a "Merciful God" appears in various religions from Christianity to...

 and justice

Justice

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...

 in his essay "Is Mercy Inherently Unjust?" He defends affirmative action

Affirmative action

Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...

in his article "The Justice of Affirmative Action".

Harwood maintains a website at www.sterlingharwood.com and his publications include:

• "Eleven Objections to Utilitarianism", in Louis P. Pojman and Peter Tramel, eds., Moral Philosophy: A Reader, 4th ed. (Hackett Publishing Co., 2009), Chapter 22, ISBN 978-0-87220-962-6.
• "Is Inheritance Immoral?" in Louis P. Pojman, ed., Political Philosophy: Classic and Contemporary Readings (McGraw Hill, 2001) ISBN 978-0072448115 .
• (with Michael J. Gorr), co-editor, Crime and Punishment: Philosophic Explorations (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., second printing 2000) ISBN 978-0534542498.
• "Is Mercy Inherently Unjust?" in Michael J. Gorr and Sterling Harwood, eds., Crime and Punishment: Philosophic Explorations (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., second printing 2000) ISBN 978-0534542498.
• "Exploitation," in Christopher Berry Gray, ed., The Philosophy of Law: An Encyclopedia, Volume I (Garland Publishing Co., 1999), pp. 280–282.
• "Is/Ought Gap," in Christopher Berry Gray, ed., The Philosophy of Law: An Encyclopedia, Volume I (Garland Publishing Co., 1999), pp. 436–437.
• "Liability, Criminal," in Christopher Berry Gray, ed., The Philosophy of Law: An Encyclopedia, Volume II (Garland Publishing Co., 1999), pp. 498–501.
• "Thomas Paine," in Christopher Berry Gray, ed., The Philosophy of Law: An Encyclopedia, Volume II (Garland Publishing Co., 1999), pp. 625–626.
• "Weaken Stare Decisis: On Burton's Judging in Good Faith", 17 Law and Philosophy 203-211 (1998).
• "Sensibility Theories," in Donald M. Borchert, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Supplement (Macmillan, 1996), pp. 532–533.
• "Warren Commission," in Joseph M. Bessette, ed., Ready Reference: American Justice (Salem Press, Inc., 1996), pp. 839–840.
• Editor, Business as Ethical and Business as Usual: Text, Readings and Cases (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996) ISBN 978-0534542511, 582 pages.
• "Taking Ethics Seriously—Moral Relativism versus Moral Realism" in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996) ISBN 978-0534542511, Chapter 1, pp. 1–4.
• "Against MacIntyre's Relativistic Communitarianism" in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996) ISBN 978-0534542511, Chapter 2, pp. 5–10.
• "Why Be Moral?: A Definition and Defense of Humanism," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996) ISBN 978-0534542511, Chapter 13, pp. 84–85.
• "Needs," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996), ISBN 978-0534542511, Chapter 17, pp. 91–92.
• Judicial Activism: A Restrained Defense (Bethesda, MD: Austin & Winfield Publishers, 1996) ISBN 978-1880921685.
• "Conceptually Necessary Links between Law and Morality" in Werner Krawietz, Neil MacCormick and Georg Henrik von Wright, eds., Prescriptive Formality and Normative Rationality in Modern Legal Systems (Berlin: Duncker and Humblot, 1994).
• "Accountability," in John K. Roth, ed., Ready Reference: Ethics, Volume I (Salem Press, Inc., 1994), pp. 11–12.
• "Benevolence," in John K. Roth, ed., Ready Reference: Ethics, Volume I (Salem Press, Inc., 1994), pp. 77–78.
• "Fraud," in John K. Roth, ed., Ready Reference: Ethics, Volume I (Salem Press, Inc., 1994), pp. 319–320.
• "Merit," in John K. Roth, ed., Ready Reference: Ethics, Volume II (Salem Press, Inc., 1994), pp. 552–553.
• "Prescriptivism," in John K. Roth, ed., Ready Reference: Ethics, Volume II (Salem Press, Inc., 1994), p. 693.
• "Temptation," in John K. Roth, ed., Ready Reference: Ethics, Volume III (Salem Press, Inc., 1994), p. 864.
• "The Justice of Affirmative Action," in Yeager Hudson and Creighton Peden, eds., The Bill of Rights: Bicentennial Reflections (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1993), Chapter 6, ISBN 978-0773492646.
• "Debate: Is Affirmative Action Justified?," in Timothy C. Shiell, Legal Philosophy: Selected Readings (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993), pp. 373–378.
• (with Michael J. Gorr), co-editor, Controversies in Criminal Law: Philosophical Essays on Responsibility and Procedure (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992) ISBN 978-0813314839.
• (with Anita Silvers), "Moral Reasoning" and "Legal and Aesthetic Reasoning," in Brooke Noel Moore and Richard Parker, Critical Thinking, third ed. (Mayfield Publishing Co., 1992), Chapters 13-14, pp. 363–396.
• "For an Amoral, Dispositional Account of Weakness of Will," Auslegung: A Journal of Philosophy, Volume 18, Number 1 (Winter 1992), pp. 27–38.
• "Democracy and the Defense of Judicial Activism," Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. XIII, No. 10 (July/August 1991).
• "Critical Review of Nicolas Fotion and Gerard Elfstrom, Military Ethics: Guidelines for Peace and War," in Yeager Hudson and Creighton Peden, eds., Revolution Violence, and Equality (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1990), pp. 438–439.
• "Affirmative Action is Justified: A Reply to Newton," Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. XII (March/April 1990), pp. 14–17.
• "Madisonian Democracy and Marxist Analysis," in Christopher B. Gray, ed., Philosophical Reflections on The United States Constitution: A Collection of Bicentennial Essays (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989).
• "Taking Skepticism Seriously - and in Context," 12 Philosophical Investigations 223-233 (1989).

Citations to Harwood's academic work include:

• Dov M. Gabbay, Patrice Canivez, Shahid Rahman, and Alexandre Theircelin, Approaches to Legal Rationality (Springer, 2010), p. 197.
• Omar Ayaita, Philosophical Knowledge: The Search for Truth and Its Limits (Amazon.com, 2010), pp. 106 and 154.
• Sarah J. Kitchell and Joshua M. D. Segal, "Rights, Equality, and Justice: A Conference Inspired by the Moral and Legal Theory of David Lyons," Boston University Law Review, Vol. 90, Number 6, August 2010, p. 1668.
• John Hardin Young, International Election Principles: Democracy and the Rule of Law (American Bar Association, 2010), p. 27.
• Erik Claes, Wouter Devroe and Bert Keirsbilck, eds., Facing the Limits of the Law (Springer, 2009), pp. 369, 370 and 373.
• James Pavisian, "The Case for Human Ingenuity: How Adderall Has Sullied the Game," 48 Washburn Law Journal, 175 (2008), p. 184.
• Thanh-Nga Nguyen, "Lawful Philosophy Professor Wreck-Chases: A Professor That Does Much More Than Teach", City College Times, May 12, 2008, p. 4.
• Aron Zysow, "Two Theories of the Obligation to Obey God's Commands," in The Law Applied: Contextualizing the Islamic Shari'a (I. B. Tauris, 2008), p. 415.
• John M. Parrish, Paradoxes of Political Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 6 and 274.
• Quee Nelson, The Slightest Philosophy (Dog Ear Press, 2007), p. 264.
• Jennifer M. Collins, "Crime and Parenthood: The Uneasy Case of Prosecuting Negligent Parents," 100 Northwestern University Law Review 807 (2006), p. 808.
• J. Edward Kellough, Understanding Affirmative Action: Politics, Discrimination, and the Search for Justice (Georgetown University Press, 2006), pp. 78 and 165.
• Louis P. Pojman, Terrorism, Human Rights, and the Case for World Government (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006), pp. xi, 13, 25, and 73.
• Louis P. Pojman, Who Are We?: Theories of Human Nature (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 151.
• Louis P. Pojman, Justice (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006), p. xii.
• Colin Gavaghan, Defending the Genetic Supermarket (Routledge-Cavendish, 2006), p. 180.
• Mike W. Martin and Roland Schinzinger, Ethics in Engineering, 4th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2005), pp. 57, 85 and 327.
• Theodore Eisenberg and Stephen P. Garvey, "The Merciful Capital Juror," 2 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 165 (2004), pp. 166 and 168.
• Lou Marinoff, "The Big Picture: What is Business Ethics? What are its Prospects in Asia?," in Frank-Jurgen Richter and Pamela C. M. Mar, eds., Asia's New Crisis: Renewal Through Total Ethical Management (John Wiley & Sons, 2004), p. 33.
• Carl Cohen and James P. Sterba, Affirmative Action and Racial Preference (Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 367.
• David Detmer, Challenging Postmodernism: Philosophy and the Politics of Truth (Humanity Books, 2003), p. 292.
• Louis P. Pojman, Global Political Philosophy (McGraw-Hill, 2003), p. xvii.
• Bernard Boxill, ed., Race and Racism (Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 174.
• Steven M. Wise, Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals (Perseus Publishing, 2000), pp. 94 and 296.
• Del Kiernan-Lewis, Learning to Philosophize: A Primer (Wadsworth Publishing Co., 2000), p. xii.
• Keith Burgess-Jackson, "A History of Rape Law," in Keith Burgess-Jackson, ed., A Most Detestable Crime: New Philosophical Essays on Rape (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 27.
• William H. Shaw, Contemporary Ethics: Taking Account of Utilitarianism (Wiley-Blackwell, 1999), pp. 115, 294, and 306.
• Michael Levin, Why Race Matters: Race Differences and What They Mean (Praeger, 1997), pp. 206, 238, 252, 254 and 257.
• Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland, Equality: Selected Readings (Oxford University Press, 1997), p. vii.
• Avrum Stroll, Moore and Wittgenstein on Certainty (Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 184.
• David Lyons, Moral Aspects of Legal Theory: Essays on Law, Justice, and Political Responsibility, (Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 102 and 141.
• Jeffrie Murphy, "Mercy and Legal Justice," in John T. Noonan, Jr. and Kenneth I. Winston, eds., The Responsible Judge: Readings in Judicial Ethics (Praeger, 1993), p. 155.
• Timothy C. Shiell, Legal Philosophy: Selected Readings (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993), pp. viii and 369.
• Sharon Elizabeth Rush, "Breaking with Tradition: Surrogacy and Gay Fathers," in Diana Tietjens Meyers, Kenneth Kipnis and Cornelius F. Murphy Jr., eds., Kindred Matters: Rethinking the Philosophy of the Family (Cornell University Press, 1993), p. 102.
• Steven P. Lee, Morality, Prudence, and Nuclear Weapons (Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. xiv.
• Bernard Rosen, Ethical Theory: Strategies and Concepts (Mayfield Publishing Co., 1993), p. xii.
• Michael Levin, "Responses to Race Differences in Crime," 23 Journal of Social Philosophy (Spring 1991).
• Lisa H. Newton, "Corruption of Thought Word, and Deed: Reflections on Affirmative Action and its Current Defenders," Contemporary Philosophy, Volume XIII, Number 7 (January/February 1991).
• Jeffrie G. Murphy, "Mercy and Legal Justice," in Joel Feinberg, ed., The Philosophy of Law, 4th ed. (Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1991), p. 731.
• P. S. Atiyah and Robert S. Summers, Form and Substance in Anglo-American Law: A Comparative Study of Legal Reasoning, Legal Theory, and Legal Institutions (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987), p. viii.