Blameworthiness and the Outcomes of One’s Actions

There are at least two ways to argue for the view that the outcome of one’s actions does not affect one’s blameworthiness. The first way appeals to the ‘Control Principle’ while the second way relies on what it means to be blameworthy. The focus of this paper is on a recent attempt at pursuing this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCriminal law and philosophy Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 271 - 290
Main Author Lee, Ambrose Y. K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.07.2023
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Criminal law
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law
Ethics
Free will
Law
Law and Criminolgy
Legal History
Original Paper
Philosophy
Philosophy of Law
Theories of Law
Blameworthiness
Punishment
Outcome luck
The engagement view
Reactive attitudes
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Summary:There are at least two ways to argue for the view that the outcome of one’s actions does not affect one’s blameworthiness. The first way appeals to the ‘Control Principle’ while the second way relies on what it means to be blameworthy. The focus of this paper is on a recent attempt at pursuing this second way that relies on an account of blameworthiness dubbed the ‘Engagement View’. This paper argues, however, that the Engagement View alone is insufficient to show why the outcomes of one’s actions does not affect one’s blameworthiness. It argues that if blame is understood more robustly as involving reactive attitudes like resentment and indignation, then it turns out the Engagement View can also give us reasons for the contrary view. This paper ends by drawing out some general implications that this has on our understanding of blameworthiness.
ISSN:1871-9791
1871-9805
DOI:10.1007/s11572-021-09620-6