Moral responsibility and the boundaries of community : power and accountability from a pragmatic point of view / Marion Smiley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smiley, Marion.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Responsibility.

Blame.

Pragmatism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (298 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The question of responsibility plays a critical role not only in our attempts to resolve social and political problems, but in our very conceptions of what those problems are. Who, for example, is to blame for apartheid in South Africa? Is the South African government responsible? What about multinational corporations that do business there? Will uncovering the "true facts of the matter" lead us to the right answer? In an argument both compelling and provocative, Marion Smiley demonstrates how attributions of blame-far from being based on an objective process of factual discovery-are instead judgments that we ourselves make on the basis of our own political and social points of view. She argues that our conception of responsibility is a singularly modern one that locates the source of blameworthiness in an individual's free will. After exploring the flaws inherent in this conception, she shows how our judgments of blame evolve out of our configuration of social roles, our conception of communal boundaries, and the distribution of power upon which both are based. The great strength of Smiley's study lies in the way in which it brings together both rigorous philosophical analysis and an appreciation of the dynamics of social and political practice. By developing a pragmatic conception of moral responsibility, this work illustrates both how moral philosophy can enhance our understanding of social and political practices and why reflection on these practices is necessary to the reconstruction of our moral concepts.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1. Introduction

2. Communal Blame and the Classical Worldview

3. Transcendental Authority and the Damnation of Christian Sinners

4. Internalized Transcendence and the Modern Moral Conscience

5. Moral Responsibility and the Prevention of Harm

6. Social Expectations, Role Playing, and the Primacy of Moral Agency

7. Moral Agency and the Distribution of Organizational Blame

8. Actions, Consequences, and the Boundaries of Community

9. Private Blame and Public Accountability

10. Conclusion: Morality and Power

Select Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 273-284) and index.

ISBN:

9786612422461

9781282422469

1282422464

9780226763255

0226763250

OCLC:

464670564