Blameworthy Required Acts and Deontic Status Tracing

Some morally required acts are wrong and blameworthy. In certain cases—Alone/Together dilemmas, single-agent dilemmas, and Actualist “Professor Procrastinate” cases—an agent is required to perform each of two incompatible actions, such that performing some act required of her is a way of failing to perform another act which is also required of her. The required act she performs is thereby wrong. According to my theory, Deontic Status Tracing, whether an agent is blameworthy for such an act depends on what explains its bizarre deontic status—namely, whether it is her fault that this act is simultaneously required and wrong.

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Publication Details

Journal
Ethics
Published
2025-12-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1086/738311
Primary Topic
Free Will and Agency
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Blameworthy Required Acts and Deontic Status Tracing

Margaret Shea
Ethics
Free Will and Agency
article

Blameworthy Required Acts and Deontic Status Tracing

Margaret Shea
article en

Abstract

Some morally required acts are wrong and blameworthy. In certain cases—Alone/Together dilemmas, single-agent dilemmas, and Actualist “Professor Procrastinate” cases—an agent is required to perform each of two incompatible actions, such that performing some act required of her is a way of failing to perform another act which is also required of her. The required act she performs is thereby wrong. According to my theory, Deontic Status Tracing, whether an agent is blameworthy for such an act depends on what explains its bizarre deontic status—namely, whether it is her fault that this act is simultaneously required and wrong.

EthicsVol. 136(2)
Openalex Percentile: Top 58%
Free Will and Agency
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Blameworthy Required Acts and Deontic Status Tracing — Margaret Shea · Ethics (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS