This post is a question for those who know more about the debates about moral responsibility. The question is: why is the wrong kind of reasons problem discussed so extensively in the buck-passing/value theory literature but relatively little in the moral responsibility literature? The only discussions I have been able to find are in a couple of Stephen Darwall’s papers where he discusses what we can learn from Strawson. Maybe the issue has been discussed more extensively in which case I would be very thankful for advice… (more…)
Does the Shape of an Outcome Matter?
I am interested in knowing whether consequentialists have thought and whether they should think that the shape of an outcome matters when it comes to how good the given outcome of an action or a policy is. Before we get to this question, I want to first motivate this thought with the obvious analogy of an individual’s life. (more…)
CfA: The New Methods of Ethics
I am organising two conferences here at Birmingham on the methods of moral philosophy. The first one of these will take place on the 15th and 16th of September 2016 and the keynote speakers at this conference will be Antti Kauppinen (Tampere), Shaun Nichols (Arizona), and Catherine Wilson (York). The second conference will be on the 4th and 5th of January 2017 with the keynotes from Tristram McPherson (Ohio State), Valerie Tiberius (Minnesota), and Ralph Wedgwood (USC). In addition to the keynote speakers, four speakers for both conferences will be selected on the basis of the submitted abstracts. More information about the conferences and the call for abstracts can be found from below. The deadline for the abstracts will be on the 15th of May.
CFA: Topics in Global Justice: Agency, Power and Policy
The second annual conference of the Centre for the Study of Global Ethics in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham welcomes submissions on any topic related to global ethics, but will prioritize work focusing on the 2016 theme of agency, power, and policy. The conference itself will be on 26.-27. 5. 2016, and the deadline for abstracts 1 November, 2015. Full details below.
JESP discussions at PEA Soup: Matt King’s “Manipulation Arguments and the Moral Standing to Blame” with a Critical Précis from Patrick Todd
Welcome everyone to PEA Soup‘s second JESP discussion. The target article this time is Matt King‘s (University of Alabama, Birmingham) recent “Manipulation Arguments and the Moral Standing to Blame“, which is a very interesting exploration of when we (and God) are in a position to blame other people and what implications such considerations have for more general debates about moral responsibility. To kick things off, below is Patrick Todd‘s (Edinburgh) helpful critical introduction. It is very illuminating especially because the target article itself is in part a critical discussion of Patrick’s 2012 Phil Imprint article “Manipulation and Moral Standing: an Argument for Incompatibilism“.
