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- Title
A Modest Historical Theory of Moral Responsibility.
- Authors
McKenna, Michael
- Abstract
Is moral responsibility essentially historical? Consider two agents qualitatively identical with respect to all of their nonhistorical properties just prior to the act of A-ing. Is it possible that, due only to differences in their respective histories, when each A-s only one A-s freely and is morally responsible for doing so? Nonhistorical theorists say 'no.' Historical theorists say 'yes.' Elsewhere, I have argued on behalf of philosophers like Harry G. Frankfurt that nonhistorical theorists can resist the historical theorists' case against them, and that, therefore, a nonhistorical thesis remains a live option. Nevertheless, I have remained officially agnostic in this debate, as I acknowledge the pull of the competing considerations speaking on behalf of each view. In what follows, I turn from defending the nonhistorical position to fashioning a new historical theory, a relatively modest one that captures what is especially gripping about the kinds of examples that seem to commend an historical conclusion.
- Subjects
THEORISTS; FRANKFURT, Harry G.; ORGANIZATIONAL sociology; COMPARATIVE organization; COMPLEX organizations
- Publication
Journal of Ethics, 2016, Vol 20, Issue 1-3, p83
- ISSN
1382-4554
- Publication type
Academic Journal
- DOI
10.1007/s10892-016-9227-8