Philosophy
A couple of ethics questions today relating to time. In Confessions, Augustine puts his head in his hands lamenting the horrible crime he committed as a child -- sneaking into a neighbor's yard and stealing some pears. He wasn't hungry and had better pears in his tree. So why did he do it? Why? Is his character now forever scarred by it? The question is, when you screw up, is the result a mark on your moral permanent record or does the stain slowly fade out? Is there an amount of time after which you can no longer be held culpable for your earlier acts?
Consider two different versions of this question:
(1) Suppose you were busted. You did it and you got caught. Is there a period after which it becomes simply a fact of the world without the related condemnation of your character? Is it a function of whether there are still lingering ill effects of the act? If it was something for which responsibility was accepted and the situation was completely rectified, does that make a difference?
It may be an easier question when the act was a youthful indiscretion or done at a time when there were other causal factors, say, an addiction. In those case, you can always argue that "I'm now a different person," but what of the times you screw up as an adult?
(2) Even if there is a statute of limitations in the first case, does the clock start after you took responsibility or after the act? Suppose you did it and got away with it. All these years, no one noticed or no one figured out that it was you. Is there an amount of time after which if you cop to your actions that you no longer deserve condemnation? Or is it worse because you hid it? Is it a difference in degree or difference in kind if it is a serious or less serious screw up?
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No one wants to deny that the murderer or Dr. George Tiller bears responsibility for his actions, but the fact is that this crime would not have happened without the groundwork having been laid by a number of people with big megaphones. While no one speech...
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Philosophy
Is There An Ethical Statute of Limitations?
A couple of ethics questions today relating to time. In Confessions, Augustine puts his head in his hands lamenting the horrible crime he committed as a child -- sneaking into a neighbor's yard and stealing some pears. He wasn't hungry and had better pears in his tree. So why did he do it? Why? Is his character now forever scarred by it? The question is, when you screw up, is the result a mark on your moral permanent record or does the stain slowly fade out? Is there an amount of time after which you can no longer be held culpable for your earlier acts?
Consider two different versions of this question:
(1) Suppose you were busted. You did it and you got caught. Is there a period after which it becomes simply a fact of the world without the related condemnation of your character? Is it a function of whether there are still lingering ill effects of the act? If it was something for which responsibility was accepted and the situation was completely rectified, does that make a difference?
It may be an easier question when the act was a youthful indiscretion or done at a time when there were other causal factors, say, an addiction. In those case, you can always argue that "I'm now a different person," but what of the times you screw up as an adult?
(2) Even if there is a statute of limitations in the first case, does the clock start after you took responsibility or after the act? Suppose you did it and got away with it. All these years, no one noticed or no one figured out that it was you. Is there an amount of time after which if you cop to your actions that you no longer deserve condemnation? Or is it worse because you hid it? Is it a difference in degree or difference in kind if it is a serious or less serious screw up?
- Voices In The Chorus
No one wants to deny that the murderer or Dr. George Tiller bears responsibility for his actions, but the fact is that this crime would not have happened without the groundwork having been laid by a number of people with big megaphones. While no one speech...
- Do You Have To Do Something To Do Something Good?
Whenever I teach ethics, one point in Kant's discussion that always gives rise to an interesting conversation is his claim that for an act to be of moral worth, it cannot serve any positive purpose for the person who does it. Even if it just makes...
- Moral Luck And The Division Of Moral Labor
Ethicists think about a notion termed "moral luck." The idea is that histoical accidents often play into what responsibilities we have. Two people are walking past different swimming pools, one has a drowning child and one doesn't. Both people were...
- David Eagleman - The Brain And The Law
There is almost universal agreement among philosophers, neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists, and other mind researchers that the mind has a physical basis in the brain. Sure, we don't yet understand the particular mechanism through which the...
- Screwing With Powerful Torque And Centered Efficiency...that's What Henry F. Phillips Did
Henry F. Phillips' advanced screw head configuration was a huge success in manufacturing. Henry F. Phillips [Wikipedia] Patents... Screw Means for uniting a screw with a driver ...