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All 8 Flashcards — Moral responsibility
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Question
What is moral responsibility?
Answer
Being fairly open to praise or blame for what you do — it needs you to have really done it, for your own reasons.
Question
How is responsibility linked to agency?
Answer
You can only be responsible for what you actually DID as an agent; no agency, no fair blame.
Question
Coercion (excuse)?
Answer
You were forced (e.g. threatened at knife-point) — the act wasn't your own free choice, so fair blame drops.
Question
Inability (excuse)?
Answer
You couldn't have done otherwise — you didn't know, couldn't understand, or couldn't control it.
Question
The rule for responsibility?
Answer
You're responsible when a free, informed agent who could have acted otherwise stood behind the act.
Question
Kant on dignity?
Answer
Rational agents have priceless worth, so must be treated as ends in themselves, never mere tools.
Question
Kant: 'end, not a mere means'?
Answer
Never use a person only as a tool for your goals — respect them as a rational agent with worth beyond price.
Question
Objection to Kant tying worth to reason?
Answer
Humans who can't reason (infants, some illnesses) seem to lose dignity — Kantians patch this, but it's a real gap.
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Topic 1.4 hub
Personhood
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