Living with uncertainty: the moral significance of ignorance PDF
Preview Living with uncertainty: the moral significance of ignorance
This page intentionally left blank LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY Everychoicewemakeissetagainstabackgroundofmassiveignor- ance about our past, our future, our circumstances, and ourselves. Philosophersaredividedonthemoralsignificanceofsuchignorance. Somesaythatithasadirectimpactonhowweoughttobehave–the questionofwhatourmoralobligationsare;othersdenythis,claiming thatitonlyaffectshowweoughttobejudgedinlightofthebehavior inwhichwechoosetoengage–thequestionofwhatresponsibility webearforourchoices.MichaelZimmermanclaimsthatourignor- ance has an important bearing on both questions, and offers an accountof moralobligationandmoralresponsibilitythatissharply atoddswiththeprevailingwisdom.Hisbookwillbeofinteresttoa widerangeofreadersinethics. MICHAEL J. ZIMMERMAN is Professor of Philosophy at the UniversityofNorthCarolinaatGreensboro.Hispublicationsinclude TheConceptofMoralObligation(1996,2007),alsointheCambridge StudiesinPhilosophyseries. CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY GeneralEditors JONATHAN LOWE (UniversityofDurham) WALTER SINNOTT-ARMSTRONG (DartmouthCollege) AdvisoryEditors JONATHAN DANCY (UniversityofReading) JOHN HALDANE(UniversityofSt.Andrews) GILBERT HARMAN(PrincetonUniversity) FRANK JACKSON(AustralianNationalUniversity) WILLIAM G. LYCAN(UniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill) SYDNEY SHOEMAKER(CornellUniversity) JUDITH J. THOMSON(MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology) Recent Titles DAVID LEWIS PapersonEthicsandSocialPhilosophy FRED DRETSKE Perception,Knowledge,andBelief LYNNE RUDDER BAKER PersonsandBodies ROSANNA KEEFE TheoriesofVagueness JOHN GRECO PuttingSkepticsinTheirPlace RUTH GARRETT MILLIKAN OnClearandConfusedIdeas DERK PEREBOOM LivingWithoutFreeWill BRIAN ELLIS ScientificEssentialism ALAN H. GOLDMAN PracticalRules CHRISTOPHER HILL ThoughtandWorld ANDREW NEWMAN TheCorrespondenceTheoryofTruth ISHTIYAQUE HAJI DeonticMoralityandControl WAYNE A. DAVIS Meaning,ExpressionandThought PETER RAILTON Facts,Values,andNorms JANE HEAL Mind,ReasonandImagination JONATHAN KVANVIG TheValueofKnowledgeandthePursuitof Understanding ANDREW MELNYK APhysicalistManifesto WILLIAM S. ROBINSON UnderstandingPhenomenal Consciousness D. M. ARMSTRONG TruthandTruthmakers KEITH FRANKISH MindandSupermind MICHAEL SMITH EthicsandtheAPriori NOAH LEMOS CommonSense JOSHUA GERT BruteRationality ALEXANDER R. PRUSS ThePrincipleofSufficientReason FOLKE TERSMAN MoralDisagreement JOSEPH MENDOLA GoodnessandJustice DAVID COPP MoralityinaNaturalWorld LYNNE RUDDER BAKER TheMetaphysicsofEverydayLife SANFORD GOLDBERG Anti-Individualism Living with Uncertainty The Moral Significance of Ignorance by MichaelJ.Zimmerman UniversityofNorthCarolinaatGreensboro CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521894913 © Michael J. Zimmerman 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2008 ISBN-13 978-0-511-42854-8 eBook (ebrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-89491-3 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents Preface page ix Acknowledgments xv 1 Ignoranceandobligation 1 1.1 Threeviewsofmoralobligation 2 1.2 Rossonmoralobligation 8 1.3 AgainsttheSubjectiveView 13 1.4 AgainsttheObjectiveView 17 1.5 TheProspectiveViewrefined 33 1.6 ObjectionstotheProspectiveView 42 1.7 Riskingwrongdoing 57 2 Riskandrights 72 2.1 Primafaciemoralobligation 73 2.2 Moralrights 78 2.3 Testcase:fidelity 87 2.4 Testcase:self-defense 97 3 Prospectivepossibilism 118 3.1 Actualismvs.Possibilism 119 3.2 Aholisticapproach 126 3.3 Intentionalaction 132 3.4 Extensionoftheaccount 138 3.5 Obligationandcontrol 146 3.6 Shiftsinobligation 151 4 Ignoranceandresponsibility 169 4.1 Moralobligationvs.moralresponsibility 171 4.2 Ignoranceasanexcuse 173 vii Contents 4.3 Accuses 193 4.4 Acautionaryconclusion 205 References 206 Indexofnames 214 Indexofsubjects 216 viii
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