George Sher
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195187427
- eISBN:
- 9780199786596
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195187423.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter examines the Humean thesis that agents can only be blamed for their bad acts insofar as those acts are manifestations of defects in their characters. Several versions of this thesis are ...
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This chapter examines the Humean thesis that agents can only be blamed for their bad acts insofar as those acts are manifestations of defects in their characters. Several versions of this thesis are distinguished and criticized. The criticisms include both the familiar charge that the Humean can’t explain how someone can deserve blame for an act whose badness is “out of character” and the less familiar charge that on the Humean account, the badness of the act itself drops out as irrelevant. It is argued, however, that although Hume was wrong to say that every blameworthy act reflects a flaw in the agent’s character, it may be right to say that every blameworthy act is rooted in the agent’s character.Less
This chapter examines the Humean thesis that agents can only be blamed for their bad acts insofar as those acts are manifestations of defects in their characters. Several versions of this thesis are distinguished and criticized. The criticisms include both the familiar charge that the Humean can’t explain how someone can deserve blame for an act whose badness is “out of character” and the less familiar charge that on the Humean account, the badness of the act itself drops out as irrelevant. It is argued, however, that although Hume was wrong to say that every blameworthy act reflects a flaw in the agent’s character, it may be right to say that every blameworthy act is rooted in the agent’s character.
José B. Ashford and Melissa Kupferberg
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780195329469
- eISBN:
- 9780199367603
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195329469.003.0007
- Subject:
- Social Work, Crime and Justice
This chapter examines character flaws and weaknesses that are due to various forms of social and cultural deprivation. The goal is to examine critically theoretical developments in the social ...
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This chapter examines character flaws and weaknesses that are due to various forms of social and cultural deprivation. The goal is to examine critically theoretical developments in the social sciences and the moral development literature with implications for understanding variations in moral character and criminal dispositions. These developments in the scientific literature are connected to common themes employed by prosecutors to aggravate a defendant's moral culpability. In addition, the contributions of the philosophical writings of Harry Frankfurt, Gary Watson, and Susan Wolf are reviewed to stimulate new ways of thinking about how to challenge notions of bad character and criminal propensities.Less
This chapter examines character flaws and weaknesses that are due to various forms of social and cultural deprivation. The goal is to examine critically theoretical developments in the social sciences and the moral development literature with implications for understanding variations in moral character and criminal dispositions. These developments in the scientific literature are connected to common themes employed by prosecutors to aggravate a defendant's moral culpability. In addition, the contributions of the philosophical writings of Harry Frankfurt, Gary Watson, and Susan Wolf are reviewed to stimulate new ways of thinking about how to challenge notions of bad character and criminal propensities.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226305776
- eISBN:
- 9780226305196
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226305196.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
The third and fourth books of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations deal with the nature and management of human emotion: first grief, then the emotions in general. In lively and accessible style, Cicero ...
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The third and fourth books of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations deal with the nature and management of human emotion: first grief, then the emotions in general. In lively and accessible style, Cicero presents the insights of Greek philosophers on the subject, reporting the views of Epicureans and Peripatetics and giving a detailed account of the Stoic position, which he himself favors for its close reasoning and moral earnestness. This book gives the Stoics' analysis of the causes of grief, their classification of emotions by genus and species, their lists of oddly named character flaws, and by the philosophical debate that develops over the utility of anger in politics and war. This translation makes Cicero's work accessible. The accompanying commentary explains the philosophical concepts discussed in the text and supplies many helpful parallels from Greek sources.Less
The third and fourth books of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations deal with the nature and management of human emotion: first grief, then the emotions in general. In lively and accessible style, Cicero presents the insights of Greek philosophers on the subject, reporting the views of Epicureans and Peripatetics and giving a detailed account of the Stoic position, which he himself favors for its close reasoning and moral earnestness. This book gives the Stoics' analysis of the causes of grief, their classification of emotions by genus and species, their lists of oddly named character flaws, and by the philosophical debate that develops over the utility of anger in politics and war. This translation makes Cicero's work accessible. The accompanying commentary explains the philosophical concepts discussed in the text and supplies many helpful parallels from Greek sources.
