Metaphysics; Ethics
Causation and Responsibility
By , University of Wisconsin at Madison (August 2007)
Sections: Metaphysics, Ethics
Subjects: Philosophy, Metaphysics.
Key Topics: free will, causation, entailment, morality.
Abstract
In this article I examine the relation between causation and moral responsibility. I distinguish four possible views about that relation. One is the standard view: the view that an agent's moral responsibility for an outcome requires, and is grounded in, the agent's causal responsibility for it. I discuss several challenges to the standard view, which motivate the three remaining views. The final view – the view I argue for – is that causation is the vehicle of transmission of moral responsibility. According to this view, although moral responsibility does not require causation, causation still grounds moral responsibility.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2007.00097.x
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