Blameworthy Action and Character

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 64 (2):381-392 (2002)
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Abstract

A number of philosophers from Hume on have claimed that it does not make sense to blame people for acting badly unless their bad acts were rooted in their characters. In this paper, I distinguish a stronger and a weaker version of this claim. The claim is false, I argue, if it is taken to mean that agents can only be blamed for bad acts when those acts are manifestations of character paws. However, what is both true and important is the weaker claim that an act is not blameworthy unless it is rooted in some enduring aspect or aspects of the agent's character that may or may not be flaws, and that, if flaws, may or may not be bad in the same way that the act itself is.

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George Sher
Rice University

Citations of this work

On Luck, Responsibility and the Meaning of Life.Berit Brogaard & Barry Smith - 2005 - Philosophical Papers 34 (3):443-458.
The Hume Literature, 2002.William Edward Morris - 2003 - Hume Studies 29 (2):381-400.
Making Room for Hate Crime Legislation in Liberal Societies.Mohamad Al-Hakim - 2010 - Criminal Law and Philosophy 4 (3):341-358.

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