Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. to have the attitude LikeLike

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. I go with the first option, you the second. This might, in the end, amount to different conceptual bookkeeping (no substantive disagreement). I agree with the verdict in your retaliation case (justified, not excused). But ret…

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. I guess what I would say here is that act types like “reckless action” are wrong, regardless of what actually happens as a result of the performance of the action. Epistemically, we often need to rely on subsequen…

“If an action can be made a wronging (and a wrong) by facts as well as disregard (e.g., de facto needlessly imposing costs on another person) it is hard to avoid moral luck.” This is a classic case of the adage that one man’s modus po…

In reply to mlyoung57. I agree: it’s not (at all) odd that you might have this complicated, divided stance toward how you treat yourself on this occasion. But you might also think that it’s a counter-productive attitude to have, so you migh…

In reply to mlyoung57. The case could be constructed more carefully. We might even specify that the pen isn’t yours, but you were using it recently (maybe this would mitigate the tendency to think that there is, in any case, some small bit of inconside…

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. If an action can be made a wronging (and a wrong) by facts as well as disregard (e.g., de facto needlessly imposing costs on another person) it is hard to avoid moral luck. Actions will sometimes be made wrongings (and wrongs…

In reply to mlyoung57. “I think there is malice in such a case because I’m intending to emotionally hurt or disrespect you.” I think the situation is misdescribed. Suppose you hit me and I hit you back. Is there malice in such a case becaus…

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. ‘Resentment’ is really just a stand-in for something like this: first-personal moral anger at being treated (or thought of) in some negative way that inherently aims at inducing guilt in the agent. I’d need …

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. The case could be constructed more carefully. We might even specify that the pen isn’t yours, but you were using it recently (maybe this would mitigate the tendency to think that there is, in any case, some small bit of…