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Full Idea
Blame rests, in part, on a fiction; the idea that ethical reasons, in particular the special kind of ethical reasons that are obligations, must, really, be available to the blamed agent.
Gist of Idea
Blame partly rests on the fiction that blamed agents always know their obligations
Source
Bernard Williams (How free does the will need to be? [1985], 5)
Book Ref
Williams,Bernard: 'Making Sense of Humanity: Papers 1982-1993' [CUP 1995], p.16
A Reaction
In blaming someone, you may be telling them that they should know their obligations, rather than assuming that they do know them. How else can we give children a moral education?