Blameless Moral Criticism – the Case of Moral Disappointment

AbstractIn discussing the ways in which we hold each other accountable for immoral conduct, philosophers have often focused on blame, aiming to specify adequate responses to wrongdoing. In contrast, theorizing about the ways we can appropriately respond tominor moral mistakes– i.e., criticizable conduct that is bad but not wrong – has largely been neglected. My first goal in this paper is, thus, to draw attention to this blind spot and argue that a separate account of blameless moral criticism is desirable. My second goal is to propose one way to explicate the contr ast between blaming and blameless moral criticism in terms of the contrast between moral anger and moral disappointment: while moral anger, as many argue, is an appropriate response to moral wrongdoing,moral disappointment, but not moral anger, is an appropriate response to these minor moral mistakes.

Source: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - December 23, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research