To be morally responsible is to be the proper object of the “reactive attitudes,” such as respect, praise, forgiveness, blame, indignation, and the like.
Similarly, we may be less inclined to condemn a criminal when we discover that his illegal acts were the result of a brain tumor or to praise the generosity of person who is compelled to give things away (Bennett 2008). Those who, whether pathologically or not, act from overwhelming stress, fear, or guilt are not praised or blamed for what they do. And while young children may have a limited capacity for self-control among the many reasons we don’t hold them morally responsible is that we think they are often powerless to resist their impulses.
No comments:
Post a Comment