
On a spiritual path, coming to self through personal liberation yields a deeper understanding of our capacity to act as ethical agents. This sense of responsibility to develop oneself is what I call agency.
Real
True Narratives
- Frans de Waal, Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved (Princeton University Press, 2002).
- Sabina Knight, The Heart of Time: Moral Agency in Twentieth Century Chinese Fiction (Harvard University Asia Center, 2006).
- T.C.Kline and Philip J. Ivanhoe, Virtue, Nature, and Moral Agency in the Xunzi (Hackett Pub. Co., 2000).
Technical and Analytical Readings
- Christine M. Korsgaard, Self-Constitution: Agency, Identity, and Integrity (Oxford University Press, 2009).
- Christine M. Korsgaard, The Constitution of Agency: Essays on Practical Reason and Moral Psychology (Oxford University Press, 2008).
- Jeanette Kennett, Agency and Responsibility: A Common-Sense Moral Psychology (Oxford University Press, 2001).
- Robert B. Pippin, Hegel's Practical Philosophy: Rational Agency as Ethical Life (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
- Nomy Arpaly, Unprincipled Virtue: An Inquiry Into Moral Agency (Oxford University Press, 2002).
- Jerome M. Segel, Agency, Illusion, and Well-Being: Essays in Moral Psychology and Philosophical Economics (Books, 2009).
- Michael D. Bristol, ed., Shakespeare and Moral Agency (Continuum, 2010).
- Stanley B. Cunningham, Reclaiming Moral Agency: The Moral Philosophy of Albert the Great (Catholic University of America Press, 2008).
- Andrews Reath, Agency and Autonomy in Kant’s Moral Theory: Selected Essays (Oxford University Press, 2006).
- William Andrew Rottschaefer, The Biology and Psychology of Moral Agency (Cambridge University Press, 1997).
- John Deigh, The Sources of Moral Agency: Essays in Moral Psychology and Freudian Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1996).
- Renée Jeffrey, ed., Confronting Evil in International Relations: Ethical Responses to Problems of Moral Agency (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
- Tony Erskine, ed., Can Institutions Have Responsibilities?: Collective Moral Agency and International Relations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).
- Linda Holler, Erotic Morality: The Role of Touch in Moral Agency (Rutgers University Press, 2002).
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Novels:
- Shing Yin Khor , The Legend of Auntie Po (Kokila, 2021): “. . . by connecting with traditions old and new, and harnessing the healing power of storytelling within her community, Mei begins to recognize her agency in a prejudiced world.”
Music: songs and other short pieces
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Every good musician represents the virtue of agency. I selected a fine jazz pianist, Bill Evans, to entertain whoever may care to listen on the occasion of this day.
- “On Green Dolphin Street” album
- “Time Remembered” album
- Jazz at the Maintenance Shop (1979)
- Trio on Jazz 625
- Oslo concert (1966), Molde Jazz Festival (1980)
- Oslo concert: part 1 and part 2
- “Portrait in Jazz” album
- “Interplay” album
- “Loose Blues” album
- “New Jazz Conceptions” album
- “Sunday at the Village Vanguard” album
- “The 1960 Birdland Sessions” album
- Bill Evans: grand maestro
- Complete last performance (1979)
- “Complete Live at Ronnie Scott’s” album
- “Autumn Leaves” album
- “Consecration” set
- “Smile with Your Heart: The Best of Bill Evans on Resonance”
Jazz saxophonist, flautist and clarinetist Eric Dolphy is another exemplar of agency in music.
- “Out to Lunch” album
- “Live at the Five Spot” album
- “Iron Man” album
- “Far Cry!” album
- “Musical Prophet” album
- The Complete Uppsala Concert
Other jazz albums:
- "Mikropuls", an album of free jazz
- Andrew McCormack, “Solo”: “Solo's sole instrument is the acoustic piano—a Steinway Model D Concert Grand to be precise—which McCormack uses to perform a wide-ranging repertoire of engaging and beautifully-played music, whether his own compositions or reinterpretations of others.'”
Compositions:
- Poulenc, Solo Piano works
- Zemlinsky, Solo Piano works
- Mascitti, Sonate a violin solo e basso, Opera Ottave (Paris, 1731)
- Telemann, 12 Fantasias for Solo Flute