Doing and allowing, threats and sequences
Doing and allowing, threats and sequences
The distinction between doing and allowing appears to have
moral significance, but the very nature of the distinction is as yet unclear. Philippa Foot’s ‘pre-existing threats’ account of the doing/allowing distinction is highly influential. According to the best version of Foot’s account an agent brings about an outcome if and only if his behaviour is part of the sequence leading to that outcome. When understood in this way, Foot’s account escapes objections by Warren Quinn and Jonathan Bennett. However, more analysis is required to show what makes a relevant condition part of a sequence. Foot’s account is promising, but incomplete.
261-277
Woollard, Fiona
c3caccc2-68c9-47c8-b2d3-9735d09f1679
June 2008
Woollard, Fiona
c3caccc2-68c9-47c8-b2d3-9735d09f1679
Abstract
The distinction between doing and allowing appears to have
moral significance, but the very nature of the distinction is as yet unclear. Philippa Foot’s ‘pre-existing threats’ account of the doing/allowing distinction is highly influential. According to the best version of Foot’s account an agent brings about an outcome if and only if his behaviour is part of the sequence leading to that outcome. When understood in this way, Foot’s account escapes objections by Warren Quinn and Jonathan Bennett. However, more analysis is required to show what makes a relevant condition part of a sequence. Foot’s account is promising, but incomplete.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 25 May 2008
Published date: June 2008
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 184461
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/184461
ISSN: 0279-0750
PURE UUID: 43202ee0-7297-4829-9058-ed7885ef0108
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Date deposited: 06 May 2011 08:30
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 03:08
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