Moral Responsibility And The Boundaries Of Community: Power And Accountability From A Pragmatic Point Of View
by Marion Smiley /
1992 / English / PDF
15.6 MB Download
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?
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.
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.
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.
