David Shoemaker presents a new pluralistic theory of responsibility,
based on the idea of quality of will. His approach is motivated by our
ambivalence to real-life cases of marginal agency, such as those
caused by clinical depression, dementia, scrupulosity, psychopathy,
autism, intellectual disability, and poor formative circumstances. Our
ambivalent responses suggest that such agents are responsible in some
ways but not others. Shoemaker develops a theory to account for our
ambivalence, via close examination of several categories of
pan-cultural emotional responsibility responses (sentiments) and their
appropriateness conditions. The result is three distinct types of
responsibility, each with its own set of required capacities:
attributability, answerability, and accountability. Attributability is
about the having and expressing of various traits of character, and it
is the target of a range of aretaic sentiments and emotional practices
organized around disdain and admiration. Answerability is about one's
capacity to govern one's actions and attitudes by one's evaluative
judgments about the worth of various practical reasons, and it is the
target of a range of sentiments and emotional practices organized
around regret and pride. Accountability is about one's ability to
regard others, both evaluatively and emotionally, and it is the target
of a range of sentiments and emotional practices organized around
anger and gratitude. In Part One of the book, this tripartite theory
is developed and defended. In Part Two of the book, the tripartite
theory's predictions about specific marginal cases are tested, once
certain empirical details about the nature of those agents have been
filled in and discussed.
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780191057908
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Academic UK
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter