I—Gideon Rosen: Culpability and Duress: A Case Study

Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 88 (1):69-90 (2014)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The paper examines the conditions under which we are responsible for actions performed under duress, focusing on a real case in which a soldier was compelled at gunpoint to participate in the massacre of civilian prisoners. The case stands for a class of cases in which the compelled act is neither clearly justified nor clearly excused on grounds of temporary incapacity, but in which it is nonetheless plausible that the agent is not morally blameworthy. The theoretical challenge is to identify the excuse in such cases and to explain its basis. The paper argues that when mortal duress excuses in cases of this sort, it does so because the compelled act, though impermissible and freely chosen, nonetheless fails to manifest ‘an insufficiently good will’. The argument depends on a potentially controversial thesis in the ethics of concern, namely, that a thoroughly decent moral agent—someone who cares enough about morality and the values that underlie it—will not always be moved to do what he knows he ought to do.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Culpability and Ignorance.Gideon Rosen - 2003 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 103 (1):61-84.
Review: The Case for Incompatibilism. [REVIEW]Gideon Rosen - 2002 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 64 (3):699 - 706.
Modal fictionalism and possible-worlds discourse.David Liggins - 2008 - Philosophical Studies 138 (2):151-60.
The shoals of language.Gideon Rosen - 1995 - Mind 104 (415):599-609.
Real Definition.Gideon Rosen - 2015 - Analytic Philosophy 56 (3):189-209.
Modal Fictionalism Fixed.Gideon Rosen - 1995 - Analysis 55 (2):67-73.
The refutation of nominalism (?).Gideon Rosen - 1993 - Philosophical Topics 21 (2):141--86.
The limits of contingency.Gideon Rosen - 2006 - In Fraser MacBride (ed.), Identity and Modality. Oxford University Press. pp. 13--39.
Skepticism about moral responsibility.Gideon Rosen - 2004 - Philosophical Perspectives 18 (1):295–313.
Critical notice.Review author[S.]: Gideon Rosen - 1995 - Mind 104 (415):599-609.
Kamm on collaboration. [REVIEW]Gideon Rosen - 2010 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 80 (3):681-693.
The Reality of Mathematical Objects.Gideon Rosen - 2011 - In John Polkinghorne (ed.), Meaning in Mathematics. Oxford University Press.

Analytics

Added to PP
2014-06-04

Downloads
164 (#107,763)

6 months
4 (#315,908)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Gideon Rosen
Princeton University

Citations of this work

Distinctive duress.Craig K. Agule - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (4):1007-1026.
Difficulty & quality of will: implications for moral ignorance.Anna Hartford - 2022 - Philosophical Explorations 25 (2):141-158.
II—Marcia Baron: Culpability, Excuse, and the ‘Ill Will’ Condition.Marcia Baron - 2014 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 88 (1):91-109.

View all 7 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Freedom and Resentment.Peter Strawson - 1962 - Proceedings of the British Academy 48:187-211.
Moral dimensions: permissibility, meaning, blame.Thomas Scanlon - 2008 - Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
The metaphysics of morals.Immanuel Kant - 1797/1996 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Mary J. Gregor.
Famine, affluence, and morality.Peter Singer - 1972 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (3):229-243.
Utilitarianism: For and Against.J. J. C. Smart & Bernard Williams - 1973 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Bernard Williams.

View all 11 references / Add more references