Conceptual Responsibility
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Conceptual Responsibility Trystan S. Goetze A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of Philosophy August 2018 ii iii Abstract This thesis concerns our moral and epistemic responsibilities regarding our concepts. I argue that certain concepts can be morally, epistemically, or socially problematic. This is particularly concerning with regard to our concepts of social kinds, which may have both descriptive and evaluative aspects. Being ignorant of certain concepts, or possessing mistaken conceptions, can be problematic for similar reasons, and contributes to various forms of epistemic injustice. I defend an expanded view of a type of epistemic injustice known as ‘hermeneutical injustice’, where widespread conceptual ignorance puts members of marginalized groups at risk of their distinctive and important experiences lacking intelligible interpretations. Together, I call the use of problematic concepts or the ignorance of appropriate concepts ‘conceptual incapacities’. I discuss the conditions under which we may be responsible for our conceptual incapacities on several major theories of responsibility, developing my own account of responsibility in the process, according to which we are responsible for something just in case it was caused by one of our reasons-responsive constitutive psychological traits. However, I argue that regardless of whether we are responsible for something, we may still be required to take responsibility for it. Whether or not we are responsible for our conceptual incapacities, we are required to reflect critically upon them in a variety of scenarios that throw our use of those concepts into question. I consider the method of conceptual engineering — the philosophical critique and revision of concepts — as one way we might take responsibility for our concepts, or at least, defer that duty to experts. But, this top-down model of conceptual revision is insufficient. Using a pragmatist model of the social epistemology of morality, I argue that conceptual inquiry is a social endeavour in which we are all required to participate, to some degree. Word Count (including notes, excluding front and end matter): 70,746 iv v Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................1 1. Wrongful Concepts ................................................................................................................................ 11 1.1. Concepts ................................................................................................................................................ 14 1.1.1. A Working Account of Concepts ......................................................................................... 14 1.1.2. Three Theories of Concepts ................................................................................................. 16 1.2. Thick Concepts — Ethical and Social ....................................................................................... 23 1.3. Conceptual Wrongs .......................................................................................................................... 31 1.4. Objections ............................................................................................................................................. 40 1.4.1. Why Concepts? ........................................................................................................................... 40 1.4.2. Impossible Demands? ............................................................................................................. 41 1.4.3. Thought Police? ......................................................................................................................... 43 1.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 46 2. Conceptual Ignorance and Epistemic Injustice ..................................................................... 47 2.1. Conceptual Ignorance and Conceptual Non-competence................................................ 47 2.2. Structures of Conceptual Ignorance: Hermeneutical Injustice ..................................... 51 2.2.1. Collective Resources and Dissenting Communities ................................................... 55 2.2.2. The Harms of Hermeneutical Injustice ........................................................................... 59 2.2.3. Global and Local Hermeneutical Economies ................................................................ 63 2.3. Wilful Conceptual Ignorance and Non-competence .......................................................... 73 2.4. Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 79 3. Responsibility for Conceptual Incapacities ............................................................................. 81 3.1. Three Senses of Responsibility ................................................................................................... 82 3.2. Voluntarism ......................................................................................................................................... 89 3.3. The Deep Self View ........................................................................................................................... 95 3.4. The Rational Relations View ........................................................................................................ 98 3.5. Psychologism ................................................................................................................................... 104 3.6. A Hybrid View: Reasonable Psychologism .......................................................................... 114 3.7. Responsibility for Conceptual Incapacities ........................................................................ 123 3.8. Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 130 4. Conceptual Answerability .............................................................................................................. 131 4.1. Taking Responsibility and Being Responsible .................................................................. 132 4.2. Bad Luck and Penumbral Agency ........................................................................................... 137 4.3. Moral and Epistemic Answerability ....................................................................................... 148 vi 4.4. Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 157 5. Taking Responsibility for Our Concepts ................................................................................. 159 5.1. Occasions to Reflect ....................................................................................................................... 160 5.2. Philosophical Reflection .............................................................................................................. 171 5.3. Conceptual Inquiry ........................................................................................................................ 183 5.4. Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 197 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 199 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 205 vii Acknowledgements I entered this degree without a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve. However, re- reading my initial proposal, there remains a consistent theme: the ethics of the ways we interpret our experiences. I am grateful to the admissions committees at Sheffield for having faith that my confused thoughts at that early stage might end up producing something worthwhile. I hope I have lived up to that expectation. I want first of all to say thank you to everyone in the philosophy department at Sheffield. I cannot think of a more supportive environment for writing a philosophy thesis. The two people here who have had the greatest impact on my work are, of course, my supervisors, Miranda Fricker and Paul Faulkner. I thank Miranda for her always encouraging remarks that helped me to build up the main ideas of the project. I thank Paul for applying his critical eye to press me to be more clear and precise on a great many points. For their feedback on my work in both written and spoken forms at Sheffield, I also want to specifically thank Ashley Pennington, Charlie Crerar, Simon Barker, Graham Bex-Priestley, Lewis Brooks, Alexandre Duval, Andreas Bunge, James Lewis, Matt