A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert
A desert-sensitive moral theory says that whether people get what they deserve, whether they are treated as they deserve to be treated, plays a role in determining what we ought to do. Some popular forms of consequentialism are desert-sensitive. But where do facts about what people deserve come from...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73571 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7892-4540 |
| _version_ | 1811079576652087296 |
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| author | Skow, Bradford |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy Skow, Bradford |
| author_sort | Skow, Bradford |
| collection | MIT |
| description | A desert-sensitive moral theory says that whether people get what they deserve, whether they are treated as they deserve to be treated, plays a role in determining what we ought to do. Some popular forms of consequentialism are desert-sensitive. But where do facts about what people deserve come from? If someone deserves a raise, or a kiss, in virtue of what does he deserve those things? One plausible answer is that what someone deserves depends, at least in part, on how well he meets his moral requirements. The wicked deserve to suffer and the decent do not. Shelly Kagan (2006) has argued that this plausible answer is wrong. But his argument for that conclusion does not succeed. I will show how to formulate a desert-sensitive moral theory (and also a desert-sensitive version of consequentialism) on which this answer is correct. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:17:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/73571 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:17:12Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/735712022-09-27T18:25:53Z A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert Skow, Bradford Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy Skow, Bradford A desert-sensitive moral theory says that whether people get what they deserve, whether they are treated as they deserve to be treated, plays a role in determining what we ought to do. Some popular forms of consequentialism are desert-sensitive. But where do facts about what people deserve come from? If someone deserves a raise, or a kiss, in virtue of what does he deserve those things? One plausible answer is that what someone deserves depends, at least in part, on how well he meets his moral requirements. The wicked deserve to suffer and the decent do not. Shelly Kagan (2006) has argued that this plausible answer is wrong. But his argument for that conclusion does not succeed. I will show how to formulate a desert-sensitive moral theory (and also a desert-sensitive version of consequentialism) on which this answer is correct. 2012-10-03T17:42:23Z 2012-10-03T17:42:23Z 2012-06 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0026-4423 1460-2113 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73571 Skow, B. “A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert.” Mind 121.481 (2012): 37–65. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7892-4540 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzs037 Mind Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf Oxford University Press (OUP) MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Skow, Bradford A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert |
| title | A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert |
| title_full | A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert |
| title_fullStr | A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert |
| title_short | A Solution to the Problem of Indeterminate Desert |
| title_sort | solution to the problem of indeterminate desert |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73571 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7892-4540 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT skowbradford asolutiontotheproblemofindeterminatedesert AT skowbradford solutiontotheproblemofindeterminatedesert |