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Full Idea
It is unreasonable to say that people have acted badly because of consequences which were not merely unforeseen but unforeseeable.
Gist of Idea
We can't criticise people because of unforeseeable consequences
Source
Gordon Graham (Eight Theories of Ethics [2004], Ch.7)
Book Ref
Graham,Gordon: 'Eight Theories of Ethics' [Routledge 2004], p.143
A Reaction
Interesting, and it sounds right. A key question in moral philosophy is how much effort people should make to assess the consequences of their actions. We must surely absolve them of the truly 'unforeseeable' consequence.
| 269 | Attempted murder is like real murder, but we should respect the luck which avoided total ruin [Plato] |
| 14063 | Sooner a good decision going wrong, than a bad one turning out for the good [Epicurus] |
| 5126 | A carelessly thrown brick is condemned much more if it hits someone [Smith,A, by Harman] |
| 20233 | Punishment has distorted the pure innocence of the contingency of outcomes [Nietzsche] |
| 4426 | A bad result distorts one's judgement about the virtue of what one has done [Nietzsche] |
| 23282 | If all that matters in morality is motive and intention, that makes moral luck irrelevant [Williams,B] |
| 3272 | Moral luck can arise in character, preconditions, actual circumstances, and outcome [Nagel] |
| 6700 | We can't criticise people because of unforeseeable consequences [Graham] |
| 20193 | Moral luck means our praise and blame may exceed our control or awareness [Zagzebski] |