Course details

8.3602

A Theory of Moral Responsibility

 S
SS 2023 Priv.Doz. Dr. phil. Uwe Meyer OFFLINE
2h/wk
4 ECTS 		B.Sc modules:
CS-BWP-PHIL - Philosophy for Cognitive Science
KOGW-WPM-PHIL - Philosophy of Mind and Cognition
M.Sc modules:
CS-MWP-PHIL - Philosophy for Cognitive Science

CS-BW - Bachelor elective course
CS-MW - Master elective course 		Tue: 10-12

You have just mixed yourself a yogurt with fruit when the phone rings. You leave the yogurt in the kitchen and talk on the phone for 5 minutes in the living room. When you come back, the cat has licked out the yogurt. You are probably annoyed, and you may shoo the cat out of the kitchen. But you are unlikely to blame the cat: "How dare you lick out the yogurt? It was mine, not yours, and you had no right!" You are not holding the cat morally responsible for its actions. It would be different if your roommate had eaten the yogurt: persons are possible addressees of moral blaming. Why are they, and under what circumstances? What exculpatory circumstances might there be - compulsive acts, brainwashing, etc.? And does moral responsibility for an act presuppose that one could have refrained from it? One of the best known approaches to such questions is Fischer and Ravizza's "Responsibility and Control. A Theory of Moral Responsibility." The book has the status of a modern classic, and we will read and discuss it together in the seminar. The book will be available in the library by the beginning of the lecture time. 4 credits can be earned through a paper and some shorter written discussion contributions to individual chapters.