New Work for an Old Theory of Action
Journal of Philosophy · Vol. 123, No. 3 · 2026
Philosophy · Catholic University of America
Marshall Bierson
How does the sort of thing we are bear on how we should act?
I’m an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America. My research centers on the intersection of ethics and philosophical anthropology: how an understanding of human beings informs an understanding of how we should live and act.
01 / Research
Ethics & human nature
Aristotelian in topic.
Anscombean in method.
Aristotelian in topic
I study human nature, rather than a rational nature presumed to be shared by every possible rational being. My question is how the nature of human creatures bears on ethics. This brings my work into conversation with psychology and neuroscience: the human action we understand philosophically is also the action we study empirically.
Anscombean in method
Most of my research proceeds through philosophical psychology in the tradition of Elizabeth Anscombe and the later Wittgenstein. I begin with the ways we explain action by reference to the world: “Why did you grab an umbrella?” “Because it is going to rain.” I study the rational and grammatical structure of such explanations, rather than treating an inner intention as a separate event whose causal connection to bodily movement needs explaining.
Action theory and epistemology are central to this approach. Knowledge and intentional action are two ways in which human beings are rationally related to reality. Philosophical and empirical inquiry can illuminate that same reality through different ways of knowing it.
Current project / 01
The great Aristotelian parallel
What is the relation between goodness and action? In “New Work for an Old Theory of Action,” I defend a version of the guise of the good thesis according to which goodness is the formal aim of action in a way parallel to truth’s being the formal aim of belief. Anscombe calls this “the great Aristotelian parallel.”
My current work develops its implications for ethical theory and philosophical psychology. One project asks why ethical theory cannot rationally guide practical reasoning in the way it is often expected to: I argue that its role parallels that of a theory of truth in theoretical reasoning. Another examines why intentional action and theoretical knowledge function as parallel concepts within Anscombe’s project.
Current project / 02
Norms that do not enter deliberation
Whether we act well often depends on what we know and intend. Yet our practical attention should be directed outward, toward the world, rather than inward, toward our own mental states. How can these features matter to acting well without becoming further considerations for the agent to weigh?
I develop an account of these “deliberatively inert normative excellences” within Anscombean philosophical psychology. “Knowledge Norms Without Epistemologizing Ethics” applies this account to the role of knowledge in action. The broader project also bears on the distinction between intention and foresight, and on my account of moral worth as the practical counterpart of knowledge.
Current project / 03
Anscombe & moral absolutes
I work to clarify and defend Anscombe’s approach to moral absolutes, including her rejection of consequentialism and her distinction between reasons and logoi. This work asks how moral constraints structure practical reasoning and how they differ from considerations to be weighed in favor of or against an action.
Published work includes “Famine, Affluence, and Aquinas,” “Understanding Anscombe’s Absolutism,” and “Rules, Rights, and Hedges.” My current projects include “The Development of Anscombe’s Absolutism” and a volume on Anscombe and the Christian moral tradition that I am co-editing with Joshua Stuchlik.
Psychology, attention & virtue
I am also pursuing an MA in psychology at the Catholic University of America. My interdisciplinary research examines attention and moral cognition, including collaborative work on how attention is managed in response to morally significant stimuli.
In philosophy of religion, I explore how virtues enable us to enjoy ideal conditions, rather than only helping us respond to hardship. This approach connects virtue, happiness, and Christian eschatology in “And All Shall Be Changed” and my current project “Why Happiness Apportions to Virtue.”
02 / Publications
Academic writing
Published and forthcoming work.
Attention and Morality: An Attention Modulation Framework of Moral Cognition
Neuroscience and Philosophy II, MIT Press · Forthcoming
With Samantha J. Fede, Ryan T. Daley, and Laura K. Soter
Rules, Rights, and Hedges
Ergo · Vol. 13 · 2026
With John Schwenkler
Understanding Anscombe’s Absolutism
PRRUCS · Vol. 4, No. 2 · 2024
Invited contribution
Famine, Affluence, and Aquinas
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy · Vol. 25, No. 2 · 2023
With Tucker Sigourney
What is the Bearing of Thinking on Doing?
The Anscombean Mind, Routledge · 2021
With John Schwenkler
And All Shall Be Changed: Virtue in the New Creation
Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion · Vol. 10
Winner of the Marc Sanders Prize in Philosophy of Religion
03 / Teaching
In the classroom
Teaching as hospitality
The central principle of my teaching is hospitality: welcoming students where they are and finding ways to make philosophical understanding accessible to them. I want students to learn to distinguish genuine understanding from its appearance, and to develop the judgment needed to think through difficult practical questions.
My teaching is often interdisciplinary and experimental. In applied ethics, I draw on cognitive science and psychology to help students navigate the questions they will encounter in their lives and professions. In logic, I have experimented with a mastery-based approach that asks students to secure foundational understanding before moving to more advanced material.
Courses taught at Catholic University
- The Classical Mind PHIL 211
- The Modern Mind PHIL 212
- Introductory Logic PHIL 302
- Biomedical Ethics PHIL 303
- Theories of Ethics PHIL 309
- Contemporary Moral Issues PHIL 311
- The Intellect and the Will PHIL 905 · Graduate seminar
Course development & mentoring
I have designed two new courses, Mind and Brain and Mind vs. Machine, on philosophy of psychology and artificial intelligence. My graduate teaching and mentoring also include directing MA theses, an Anscombe reading group, and philosophy discussion lunches.
Earlier teaching
At Florida State University, I taught Ethical Theory, Reasoning and Critical Thinking, Bioethics, and Introduction to Philosophy. I also worked in philosophy and debate education at the Victory Briefs Institute, including as Director of Instructional Design and Curriculum.
04 / Public philosophy
Beyond the academy
I wrote 42 articles as a news analyst for the Prindle Institute from 2020 to 2022, addressing questions such as stereotyping, historical judgment, political disagreement, and charitable giving.
I have also given public talks through the Thomistic Institute on topics including Anscombe’s ethics, human activity, and Aquinas on charitable aid. Recent talks include “Why Be Philosophical” and “Why We Need Action Theory as a Foundation for Ethical Theory.”
Selected essays include “Stereotyping and Statistical Generalizations,” “Judgment, Condemnation, and Historical Context,” and “The Knowledge Norms of Emotions.”
05 / Contact
Get in touch.
School of Philosophy
Catholic University of America
208 Aquinas Hall
620 Michigan Avenue NE
Washington, DC