- Date(s)
- October 19, 2022
- Location
- 27 University Square/01/003
- Time
- 15:00 - 16:30
- Price
- Free
Anneli Jefferson (University of Cardiff) 'Blaming the Dead'
Abstract:
In the philosophy of moral responsibility, we find the recurring claim that any good account of moral responsibility needs to make sense of how we can blame the dead. In my talk, I consider and reject several explanatory and justificatory approaches to the practice of blaming the dead. I argue that while we can make sense of blaming the dead, this is not a paradigmatic case of blame. Nevertheless, it involves key features of blame - a negative assessment of the deceased’s actions as well as the assessment that these actions reflect badly on the deceased. But beyond this minimal notion of moral assessment, blaming the dead is very much a practice that is directed at the living, not the dead. In blaming the dead, we negotiate and reinforce the moral code we are committed to.
| Name | Dr Suzanne Whitten |
| suzanne.whitten@qub.ac.uk | |
| Website | https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/happ/ |