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Chapter 5 - Moral Responsibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2023

Lloyd P. Gerson
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Plato consistently holds that “no one does wrong willingly.” If this is the case, how is it possible for someone to be held morally responsible for his actions? Plato does seem not only to countenance the idea of moral responsibility but to make it a central notion in his political and eschatological writings (Section 5.1). The connection between personhood and embodiment is explored and the relevance of embodiment to moral responsibility is considered in Republic and Timaeus. The possibility of incontinence or akrasia reveals the divided selfhood in the emboodied person. The concept of culpable ignorance is introduced in order to account for moral responsibility. Culpable ignorance depends on the self-relexivity of rationality (Section 5.2).

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Plato's Moral Realism , pp. 147 - 170
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Moral Responsibility
  • Lloyd P. Gerson, University of Toronto
  • Book: Plato's Moral Realism
  • Online publication: 28 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009329934.005
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  • Moral Responsibility
  • Lloyd P. Gerson, University of Toronto
  • Book: Plato's Moral Realism
  • Online publication: 28 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009329934.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Moral Responsibility
  • Lloyd P. Gerson, University of Toronto
  • Book: Plato's Moral Realism
  • Online publication: 28 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009329934.005
Available formats
×