Agent-Regret and the Social Practice of Moral Luck
Res Philosophica 94 (1):95-117 (2017)
Abstract
Agent-regret seems to give rise to a philosophical puzzle. If we grant that we are not morally responsible for consequences outside our control, then agent-regret—which involves self-reproach and a desire to make amends for consequences outside one’s control—appears rationally indefensible. But despite its apparent indefensibility, agent-regret still seems like a reasonable response to bad moral luck. I argue here that the puzzle can be resolved if we appreciate the role that agent-regret plays in a larger social practice that helps us deal with bad moral luck. That agent-regret is a component in a social practice limits the questions that we can reasonably ask about it. While we can ask whether an experience of agent-regret is rational given the norms of this practice, we cannot ask the question that motivates the puzzle of agent-regret, viz. whether agent-regret is rationally defensible according to the Standard View.
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ISBN(s)
2168-9105
PhilPapers/Archive ID
MACAAT-16
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Archival date: 2018-10-29
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2017-02-24
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432 ( #17,346 of 69,167 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
59 ( #13,326 of 69,167 )
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