D. Justin Coates is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Houston. He specializes in moral philosophy and philosophy of action, and has published on issues related to blame, moral responsibility, reasons, and ambivalence.

• Acknowledgements


• 1. Introduction


• Part I - A House Divided


• 2. Ambivalence


• 3. Resolving the Will


• 4. Affirmation and Ambivalence


• 5. Ambivalence without Self-Defeat


• 6. Ambivalence and Integrity


• Part II - A Wise Inconsistency


• 7. Normative Competence and Ambivalence


• 8. Morality and Meaningfulness


• 9. Conclusion: Being Large, Containing Multitudes


• Works Cited


• Index

In Praise of Ambivalence develops a novel account of ambivalence and its significance. Against Unificationist accounts of agency, which hold that well-functioning agency aims for wholeheartedness, Coates argues that the best forms of human agency are not only compatible with ambivalence but regularly require it. Ambivalence is thus not a volitional defect, but a crucial constituent of well-functioning agency.