A Counterfactual Model of Plagiarism

Abstract: How are we to understand plagiarism? In early 2024, controversy broke out over plagiarism accusations against Harvard’s former president, Claudine Gay. The plagiarism accusations against Gay were the beginning of the politicization of plagiarism claims. During this crisis, plagiarism seemed to entail terrible wrongdoing, no matter the form or extent. Garrett Pendergraft, with research assistance from Arik Chu, provides a counterfactual model of understanding the relationship between plagiarism and ethical wrongdoing: a particular instance of plagiarism is wrong to the extent that removing it from history would make a big difference. The counter-factual model of plagiarism gives an intuitive and functional model of attaching degrees of blameworthiness to cases of plagiarism. The counter-factual model of plagiarism was published in an article by Inside Higher Ed titled “A New Way to Think About Plagiarism” by Garrett Pendergraft, serving as an ethical work of public philosophy, spreading clearer thinking to the wider public.