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Chapter 1 - The Problem of Blame

from Part I - The Permissibility of Blame

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2022

Kelly McCormick
Kelly McCormick
Affiliation:
Texas Christian University
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Summary

In Chapter 1, I attempt to explicate the problem of blame by making use of an analogy with another more familiar problem relevant to permissibility and harm – the problem of punishment. I argue that this comparison serves to highlight two clear desiderata for a normatively adequate account of blame, one concerning the value of blame and another concerning desert. In this chapter, I also argue that the problem of blame concerns the reactive varieties of blame in particular, offer some principled strategies for distinguishing between reactive and nonreactive varieties of blame, and discuss the role that the negative reactive attitudes play in characterizing the former.

Keywords

Blamereactive attitudescognitive accounts of blameconative accounts of blamequality of willpunishmentnormative adequacy
Type
Chapter
Information
The Problem of Blame
Making Sense of Moral Anger
 , pp. 11 - 39
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • The Problem of Blame
  • Kelly McCormick, Texas Christian University
  • Book: The Problem of Blame
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108907071.003
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  • The Problem of Blame
  • Kelly McCormick, Texas Christian University
  • Book: The Problem of Blame
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108907071.003
Available formats
×

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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Problem of Blame
  • Kelly McCormick, Texas Christian University
  • Book: The Problem of Blame
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108907071.003
Available formats
×