Nerds' Corner

Conclusions

by Blake Roeber

Blake's conclusions related to his series of posts about when it's OK to blame a worldview for someone's bad behavior.

Negative Conclusion 1

If Beta entails or suggests that we shouldn't steal, then we cannot legitimately blame Beta for Smith's stealing.

Positive Conclusion 1

If Beta entails that we should steal, then we can legitimately blame Beta for Smith's stealing.

Conditional Conclusion 1

If Beta suggests that we should steal, then the degree to which we can legitimately blame Beta for Smith's stealing depends on the strength of the suggestion. (The stronger the suggestion, the more we can legitimately blame Beta for Smith's stealing.)

Positive Conclusion 2

If Beta entails that it's OK to steal (and OK to not steal), then Beta is partially to blame for Smith's stealing.

Conditional Conclusion 2

If Beta suggests that it's OK to steal (and OK to not steal), then the degree to which we can legitimately blame Beta for Smith's stealing depends on the strength of the suggestion. (The stronger the suggestion, the more we can legitimately blame Beta for Smith's stealing.) But even if the suggestion is very strong, Beta is only partially to blame for Smith's stealing.

Conditional Conclusion 3

If Beta is silent on the moral status of stealing, then Beta can be blamed for Smith's stealing only if Beta has moral content — that is, only if Beta is a theory about right and wrong, only if Beta's in the business of providing moral guidance.

About the author
Blake Roeber is a graduate student in philosophy at Northern Illinois University, but not for long. After completing his MA in the spring of '08, he'll start a PhD in philosophy at Rutgers.