A Puzzle About Responsibility: A Problem and its Contextualist Solution

Erkenntnis 74 (2):207-224 (2011)
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Abstract

This paper presents a puzzle about moral responsibility. The problem is based upon the indeterminacy of relevant reference classes as applied to action. After discussing and rejecting a very tempting response I propose moral contextualism instead, that is, the idea that the truth value of judgments of the form S is morally responsible for x depends on and varies with the context of the attributor who makes that judgment. Even if this reply should not do all the expected work it is a first step.

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Peter Baumann
Swarthmore College

References found in this work

Knowledge and lotteries.John Hawthorne - 2004 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Knowledge and practical interests.Jason Stanley - 2005 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Mortal questions.Thomas Nagel - 1979 - New York: Cambridge University Press.

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