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Should an individual composed of selfish goals be held responsible for her actions?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Natalia Washington  and
Daniel Kelly
Natalia Washington
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906-2098. [email protected]@purdue.eduhttp://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/
Daniel Kelly
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906-2098. [email protected]@purdue.eduhttp://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/
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Abstract

We discuss the implications of the Selfish Goal model for moral responsibility, arguing it suggests a form of skepticism we call the “locus problem.” In denying that individuals contain any genuine psychological core of information processing, the Selfish Goal model denies the kind of locus of control intuitively presupposed by ascriptions of responsibility. We briefly consider ways the problem might be overcome.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 158 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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