Moral Asymmetries, New Connections, and Possible Explanations:
Putting Experimental Data into Context

k 2017

Moral Asymmetries, New Connections, and Possible Explanations: Putting Experimental Data into Context

BYSTROŇOVÁ, Monika

Basic information

Original name

Moral Asymmetries, New Connections, and Possible Explanations: Putting Experimental Data into Context

Authors

BYSTROŇOVÁ, Monika (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

2nd Bi-Annual Workshop Osnabrück, Osnabrück, 16.-18.11.2017, 2017

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Prezentace na konferencích

Field of Study

60300 6.3 Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

Country of publisher

Germany

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/17:00098332

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

Keywords in English

experimental philosophy; moral psychology; folk psychology; theory of mind; side-effect effect; moral luck; asymmetries; blame; punishment

Abstract

V originále

In the field of experimental philosophy and moral psychology, there are several branches of research that point out that when evaluating a moral situation and a moral agent, ascribing moral concepts to the agent or assessing blame/praise or punishment/reward, people tend to be biased by seemingly irrelevant factors. There were several documented asymmetries in the process of moral evaluation. The main aim of this paper is to show that different branches of research that are focused on different problems have in fact, a lot of things in common and that the results can complete each other and can actually tell us more when put into context. Even though these studies have so much in common, they were never put into context. So, in this bigger picture, there can be found interesting new connections, which lead to better understanding of folk moral mind and also to better understanding of the asymmetries. In my paper, I will focus on two interesting phenomena - the so called side-effect effect (Knobe, 2003) and moral luck (Cushman, 2008). In scenarios used in studies investigating these two phenomena, there can be identified the same set of factors that participants have to consider - mental states of the moral agent like intention, desire, awareness and knowledge, skill to actually perform the action and causal responsibility for the act. By using this set of factors, I will be able to show that scenarios used in experiments in these studies have in fact the same framework. And by comparing the results of these experiments I will demonstrate that the results of one experiment can actually add something interesting to the results of the other one. This analysis of scenarios and results will shed new light on several matters: i) philosophical theories about action theory and moral luck; ii) theory of mind (How folk actually perceive the mind of a moral agent?); iii) better understanding of folk moral evaluation (Which of the factors are by folk perceived as more important when evaluating moral behavior?); iv) better understanding of the “side-effect effect” and his possible explanations. Also, by using the set of factors I will present real-life court cases (along with the verdicts) with the same framework as scenarios used in presented studies, which will allow me to show that scenarios used in these experiments are not entirely unrealistic. By comparing these, I will demonstrate that these asymmetrical judgments people seem to have are a real threat to our legal system and by putting studies from different research branches into context can help us to better understand how these asymmetries arise and maybe even how to prevent them.

Links

MUNI/A/0837/2016, interní kód MU

Name: Výzvy současné filozofie

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A

Citovat

BYSTROŇOVÁ, Monika. Moral Asymmetries, New Connections, and Possible Explanations: Putting Experimental Data into Context. In 2nd Bi-Annual Workshop Osnabrück, Osnabrück, 16.-18.11.2017. 2017.

@proceedings{1395755,
   author = {Bystroňová, Monika},
   booktitle = {2nd Bi-Annual Workshop Osnabrück, Osnabrück, 16.-18.11.2017},
   keywords = {experimental philosophy; moral psychology; folk psychology; theory of mind; side-effect effect; moral luck; asymmetries; blame; punishment},
   language = {eng},
   title = {Moral Asymmetries, New Connections, and Possible Explanations: Putting Experimental Data into Context},
   year = {2017}
}

TY  - CONF
ID  - 1395755
AU  - Bystroňová, Monika
PY  - 2017
TI  - Moral Asymmetries, New Connections, and Possible Explanations: Putting Experimental Data into Context
KW  - experimental philosophy
KW  - moral psychology
KW  - folk psychology
KW  - theory of mind
KW  - side-effect effect
KW  - moral luck
KW  - asymmetries
KW  - blame
KW  - punishment
N2  - In the field of experimental philosophy and moral psychology, there are several branches of research that point out that when evaluating a moral situation and a moral agent, ascribing moral concepts to the agent or assessing blame/praise or punishment/reward, people tend to be biased by seemingly irrelevant factors. There were several documented asymmetries in the process of moral evaluation. The main aim of this paper is to show that different branches of research that are focused on different problems have in fact, a lot of things in common and that the results can complete each other and can actually tell us more when put into context. Even though these studies have so much in common, they were never put into context. So, in this bigger picture, there can be found interesting new connections, which lead to better understanding of folk moral mind and also to better understanding of the asymmetries. In my paper, I will focus on two interesting phenomena - the so called side-effect effect (Knobe, 2003) and moral luck (Cushman, 2008). In scenarios used in studies investigating these two phenomena, there can be identified the same set of factors that participants have to consider - mental states of the moral agent like intention, desire, awareness and knowledge, skill to actually perform the action and causal responsibility for the act. By using this set of factors, I will be able to show that scenarios used in experiments in these studies have in fact the same framework. And by comparing the results of these experiments I will demonstrate that the results of one experiment can actually add something interesting to the results of the other one. This analysis of scenarios and results will shed new light on several matters: i) philosophical theories about action theory and moral luck; ii) theory of mind (How folk actually perceive the mind of a moral agent?); iii) better understanding of folk moral evaluation (Which of the factors are by folk perceived as more important when evaluating moral behavior?); iv) better understanding of the “side-effect effect” and his possible explanations. Also, by using the set of factors I will present real-life court cases (along with the verdicts) with the same framework as scenarios used in presented studies, which will allow me to show that scenarios used in these experiments are not entirely unrealistic. By comparing these, I will demonstrate that these asymmetrical judgments people seem to have are a real threat to our legal system and by putting studies from different research branches into context can help us to better understand how these asymmetries arise and maybe even how to prevent them.
ER  -

BYSTROŇOVÁ, Monika. Moral Asymmetries, New Connections, and Possible Explanations: Putting Experimental Data into Context. In \textit{2nd Bi-Annual Workshop Osnabrück, Osnabrück, 16.-18.11.2017}. 2017.

Detailed Information on Publication Record