[SydPhil] Philorum Group @ Central. 2013-08(Aug)-06 Tue. Mitigation of Blame And Punishment (Allan McCay)

[John Bentley]

If one accepts (as not all do) that people are at least sometimes
blameworthy for what they do, then a further question arises: how
blameworthy are they? Sometimes a person may draw attention to factors
relating to their moral agency that they suggest makes them less blameworthy
for what they did. 

A person may claim that they are a bit, but not very blameworthy for acting
in a rude and abrupt way because they have a cold. They may suggest they are
less blameworthy for their rudeness because of the cold. In a legal setting
a person may argue that they are less blameworthy for a criminal act, and
deserving of less punishment because they experienced difficult formative
circumstances (perhaps an abusive family environment). Or they may suggest
that they deserve less blame and punishment for their crime because of a
mild mental illness that does not provide a complete excuse. 

I will consider how to evaluate claims like this. If we have decided that
someone is blameworthy for a wrong how can we decide how blameworthy they
are?

Dates: 1st Tuesdays of the month. Nights.
18:15 for a 18:30 Start. Finish 21:30
(Feel free to come and go at any point during the night.)

The Members Bar, Floor 1
(Keep winding up to the top of the stairs.)
The Gaelic Club
64 Devonshire Street
Surry Hills 2010 NSW
Sydney, Australia
(100 metres from a Central railway station exit.)

Cost: $3 donation. (This goes entirely to the venue).

www.philorum.org

View a google map at http://www.philorum.org/centralNextMeeting


Subsequent meeting:

Will be at Redfern

2013-08(Aug)-21 Wed. The future of Marxism and Leninism (Myles Paulsen)


http://www.philorum.org/redfernFutureCalendar.html 
http://www.philorum.org/centralFutureCalendar.html