Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-tsvsl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-27T22:39:17.317Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Two Faces of Responsibility for Beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2023

Giulia Luvisotto*
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland

Abstract

The conception of responsibility for beliefs typically assumed in the literature mirrors the practices of accountability for actions. In this paper, I argue that this trend leaves a part of what it is to be responsible unduly neglected, namely the practices of attributability. After offering a diagnosis for this neglect, I bring these practices into focus and develop a virtue-theoretic framework to vindicate them. I then investigate the specificity of the belief case and conclude by resisting two challenges, namely that attributability cannot amount to genuine responsibility and that it can be reduced to a sort of accountability.

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Canadian Journal of Philosophy

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, Robert Merrihew. 1985. “Involuntary Sins.” The Philosophical Review 94 (1): 3. https://doi.org/10.2307/2184713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler, Jonathan E. 2002. Belief’s Own Ethics. MIT Press. https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/1870/Belief-s-Own-Ethics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anscombe, G. E. M. 1958. “Modern Moral Philosophy.” Philosophy 33 (124): 119. https://doi.org/doi:10.1017/S0031819100037943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basu, Rima. 2018. “Can Beliefs Wrong?Philosophical Topics 46 (1): 117. https://doi.org/10.5840/philtopics20184611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basu, Rima, and Schroeder, Mark. 2019. “Doxastic Wronging.” In Pragmatic Encroachment in Epistemology, edited by Kim, Brian and McGrath, Matthew, 181205. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bernecker, Sven. 2018. “On the Blameworthiness of Forgetting.” In New Directions in the Philosophy of Memory, edited by Perrin, Denis, Debus, Dorothea, Michaelian, Kourken, 241–58. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Björnsson, Gunnar. 2017. “Explaining (Away) the Epistemic Condition on Moral Responsibility.” In Responsibility: The Epistemic Condition, edited by Robichaud, Philip and Wieland, Jan Willem, 146–62. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Boult, Cameron. 2021. “There Is a Distinctively Epistemic Kind of Blame.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 103 (3): 518–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, Matthew. 2009. “Active Belief.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy Supp. Vol. 35: 119–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.2009.10717646.Google Scholar
Boyle, Matthew. 2011. “‘Making up Your Mind’ and the Activity of Reason.” Philosopher’s Imprint 11 (17): 124.Google Scholar
Brown, Jessica. 2020. “What Is Epistemic Blame?Noûs 54 (2): 389407. https://doi.org/10.1111/nous.12270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownstein, Michael. 2016. “Attributionism and Moral Responsibility for Implicit Bias.” Review of Philosophy and Psychology 7 (December). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-015-0287-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brueckner, Anthony, and Bundy, Alex. 2012. “On ‘Epistemic Permissiveness.’Synthese 188 (2): 165–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-011-9921-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chrisman, Matthew. 2008. “Ought to Believe.” Journal of Philosophy 105 (7): 346–70. https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil2008105736.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chuard, Philippe, and Southwood, Nicholas. 2009. “Epistemic Norms without Voluntary Control.” Noûs 43 (4): 599632. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0068.2009.00721.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwall, Stephen. 1996. The Second Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
De Caro, Mario, and Vaccarezza, Maria Silvia. 2020. “Morality and Interpretation: The Principle of Phronetic Charity.” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 23 (2): 295307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-019-10054-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douven, Igor. 2009. “Uniqueness Revisited.” American Philosophical Quarterly 46 (4): 347–61.Google Scholar
Feldman, Richard. 2000. “The Ethics of Belief.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 60 (3): 667–95. https://doi.org/10.2307/2653823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Richard. 2006. “Reasonable Religious Disagreements.” In Philosophers without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life, edited by Antony, Louise, 194214. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fritz, Kyle. 2018. “Moral Responsibility, Voluntary Control, and Intentional Action.” Philosophia 46 (4): 831–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-018-9968-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardiner, Georgi. 2018. “Evidentialism and Moral Encroachment.” In Believing in Accordance with the Evidence, edited by Kevin, McCain. Cham, Switz.: Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
Ginet, Carl. 2001. “Deciding to Believe.” In Knowledge, Truth and Duty, edited by Steup, Matthias, 6376. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hieronymi, Pamela. 2004. “The Force and Fairness of Blame.” Philosophical Perspectives 18 (1): 115–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1520-8583.2004.00023.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hieronymi, Pamela. 2006. “Controlling Attitudes.” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 87 (1): 4574. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0114.2006.00247.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hieronymi, Pamela. 2008. “Responsibility for Believing.” Synthese 161 (3): 357–73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-006-9089-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hieronymi, Pamela. 2009. “Two Kinds of Agency.” In Mental Actions, edited by O’Brien, Lucy and Soteriou, Matthew, 138–62. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199225989.003.0007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hieronymi, Pamela. 2014. “Reflection and Responsibility.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 42 (1): 341. https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hursthouse, Rosalind. 1999. On Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199247994.001.0001.Google Scholar
Kauppinen, Antti. 2018. “Epistemic Norms and Epistemic Accountability.” Philosopher’s Imprint 18 (8): 16.Google Scholar
Kelly, Thomas. 2005. “The Epistemic Significance of Disagreement.” In Oxford Studies in Epistemology, Volume 1, edited by Hawthorne, John and Gendler, Tamar, 167–96. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kelly, Thomas. 2013. “Evidence Can Be Permissive.” In Contemporary Debates in Epistemology, edited by Steup, Matthias and Turri, John, 298. Chichester, UK: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Levy, Neil. 2005. “The Good, the Bad, and the Blameworthy.” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 1 (2): 116. https://doi.org/10.26556/jesp.v1i2.6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, Neil. 2007. “Doxastic Responsibility.” Synthese 155 (1): 127–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-005-3983-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luvisotto, Giulia, and Roessler, Johannes. 2022. “Virtue, Character, and Moral Responsibility: Against the Monolithic View.” Argumenta 14: 113. https://doi.org/10.14275/2465-2334/20220.LUV.Google Scholar
Matheson, Jonathan. 2011. “The Case for Rational Uniqueness.” Logic and Episteme 2 (3): 359–73. https://doi.org/10.5840/logos-episteme20112319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCormick, Miriam. 2011. “Taking Control of Belief.” Philosophical Explorations 14 (2): 169–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/13869795.2011.569745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowell, John. 1979. “Virtue and Reason.” The Monist 62 (3): 331–50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27902600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McHugh, Conor. 2011. “Judging as a Non-Voluntary Action.” Philosophical Studies 152 (2): 245–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-009-9478-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McHugh, Conor. 2012. “Epistemic Deontology and Voluntariness.” Erkenntnis 77 (1): 6594. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-011-9299-6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McHugh, Conor. 2013. “Epistemic Responsibility and Doxastic Agency.” Philosophical Issues 23: 132–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/phis.12007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McHugh, Conor. 2017. “Attitudinal Control.” Synthese 194 (8): 2745–62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-014-0643-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenna, Michael. 2012. Conversation & Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meylan, Anne. 2015. “The Legitimacy of Intellectual Praise and Blame.” Journal of Philosophical Research 40: 189203. https://doi.org/10.5840/jpr201511537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meylan, Anne. 2017. “The Consequential Conception of Doxastic Responsibility.” Theoria 83 (1): 428. https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.12110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelkin, Dana Kay, and Rickless, Samuel C.. 2017. “Moral Responsibility for Unwitting Omissions: A New Tracing View.” In The Ethics and Law of Omissions, 106–29. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, Mark T. 2010. “We Have No Positive Epistemic Duties.” Mind 119 (473): 83102. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzp148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nottelmann, Nikolaj. 2007. Blameworthy Belief: A Study in Epistemic Deontologism . Synthese Library, Vol. 338. Dordrecht, Nether.: Springer.Google Scholar
Nottelmann, Nikolaj, and Fessenbecker, Patrick. 2020. “Honesty and Inquiry: W. K. Clifford’s Ethics of Belief.” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 28 (4): 797818. https://doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2019.1655389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, Robert Carry. 2021. “Doxastic Responsibility, Guidance Control, and Ownership of Belief.” Episteme 18 (1): 8298. https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2019.4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owens, David. 2000. Reason without Freedom: The Problem of Epistemic Normativity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Peels, Rik. 2017. Responsible Belief: A Theory in Ethics and Epistemology. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proust, Marcel. (1918) 2015. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower: In Search of Lost Time Vol. 2. Edited and annotated by Carter, William C., translated by Charles Kenneth Scott-Moncrieff. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Raz, Joseph. 2011. From Normativity to Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robichaud, Philip, and Wieland, Jan Willem. 2017. Responsibility: The Epistemic Condition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, Gideon. 2001. “Nominalism, Naturalism, Epistemic Relativism.” Noûs 35 (s15): 6991. https://doi.org/10.1111/0029-4624.35.s15.4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoenfield, Miriam. 2014. “Permission to Believe: Why Permissivism Is True and What It Tells Us About Irrelevant Influences on Belief.” Noûs 48 (2): 193218. https://doi.org/10.1111/nous.12006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoenfield, Miriam. 2019. “Permissivism and the Value of Rationality: A Challenge to the Uniqueness Thesis.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 99 (2): 286–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schueler, G. F. 2003. Reasons and Purposes: Human Rationality and the Teleological Explanation of Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sellars, Wilfrid. 1969. “Language as Thought and as Communication.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 29 (4): 506. https://doi.org/10.2307/2105537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sher, George. 2001. “Blame for Traits.” Noûs 35 (1): 146–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/0029-4624.00291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sher, George. 2008. “Who’s in Charge Here? Reply to Neil Levy.” Philosophia 36 (2): 223–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-007-9101-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoemaker, David. 2011. “Attributability, Answerability, and Accountability: Toward a Wider Theory of Moral Responsibility.” Ethics 121 (3): 602–32. https://doi.org/10.1086/659003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoemaker, David. 2018. “Responses to Watson, Talbert, and McKenna.” Philosophical Studies 175 (4): 9991010. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-018-1045-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smart, J. J. C. 1961. “Free Will, Praise and Blame.” Mind 70 (279): 291306. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/LXX.279.291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Angela M. 2005. “Responsibility for Attitudes: Activity and Passivity in Mental Life.” Ethics 115 (2): 236–71. https://doi.org/10.1086/426957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Angela M. 2008. “Control, Responsibility, and Moral Assessment.” Philosophical Studies 138 (3): 367–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-006-9048-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Angela M. 2012. “Attributability, Answerability, and Accountability: In Defense of a Unified Account.” Ethics 122 (3): 575–89. https://doi.org/10.1086/664752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steup, Matthias. 2000. “Doxastic Voluntarism and Epistemic Deontology.” Acta Analytica 15 (1): 2556. https://doi.org/10.1093/0195128923.001.0001.Google Scholar
Steup, Matthias. 2008. “Doxastic Freedom.” Synthese 161 (3): 375–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-006-9090-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steup, Matthias. 2011. “Belief, Voluntariness and Intentionality.” Dialectica 65 (4): 537–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-8361.2011.01284.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steup, Matthias. 2012. “Belief Control and Intentionality.” Synthese 188 (2): 145–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-011-9919-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strawson, Peter. 1962. “Freedom and Resentment.” Proceedings of the British Academy 48: 187211.Google Scholar
van Oeveren, Rutger, and Wieland, Jan Willem. 2017. “Attributionism and Counterfactual Robustness.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 95 (3): 594. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2016.1235217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, Gary. 1996. “Two Faces of Responsibility.” Philosophical Topics 24 (2): 227–48. https://doi.org/10.5840/philtopics199624222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weatherson, Brian. 2008. “Deontology and Descartes’s Demon.” Journal of Philosophy 105 (9): 540–69. https://doi.org/10.2307/20620125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Roger. 2005. “Epistemic Permissiveness.” Philosophical Perspectives 19 (1): 445–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1520-8583.2005.00069.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wieland, Jan Willem. 2017. “The Epistemic Condition.” In Responsibility: The Epistemic Condition, edited by Robichaud, Philip and Wieland, Jan Willem, 128. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Willard-Kyle, Christopher. 2017. “Do Great Minds Really Think Alike?Synthese 194 (3): 9891026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-015-0984-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, Susan R. 1990. Freedom within Reason. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Woods, Jack. 2018. “The Authority of Formality.” Oxford Studies in Metaethics 13. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198823841.003.0010.Google Scholar