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Tragic Dilemmas, Virtue Ethics and Moral Luck

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Tragic Dilemmas, Virtue Ethics and Moral Luck TRAGIC DILEMMAS, VIRTUE ETHICS AND MORAL LUCK Leanne Kent A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Philosophy December, 2008 Committee: Dr. Fred D. Miller, Jr., Advisor Dr. Dale Klopfer Graduate Faculty Representative Dr. Daniel Jacobson Dr. David Shoemaker ii ABSTRACT Dr. Fred D. Miller Jr., Advisor Tragic dilemmas are cases in which an agent must choose between two horrific or repugnant options. Such choices are painful and accompanied by emotional suffering on the part of the tragic-agent. Specifically, I argue that the tragic-agent feels torn, guilty, and tainted. I further argue that these responses are appropriate – they are ones we would expect of a good moral agent. Precepts commonly employed by standard versions of consequentialism and deontology, however, make feeling torn, guilty, and tainted unfitting – the feelings are at odds with the moral reality generally espoused by these theories. I argue that these emotions can be straightforwardly accounted for by employing a neo- Aristotelian theory. This framework recognizes multiple areas of human concern and defines virtue as responding appropriately to these concerns. Tragic dilemmas can be understood as situations where all choices available to an agent require the agent to choose in a way that undermines the very ends of virtue that she is disposed to, and committed to, realizing. This explains why agents feel torn. I go on to provide a virtue ethical account of right and wrong action whereby an act is right (or wrong) if and only if it is what a virtuous (or vicious) agent would characteristically do. Since the action in a tragic dilemma is one that is characteristic of the vicious agent, the action is a genuinely wrong action. This then explains why agents feel guilty. If wrongdoing diminishes goodness, then this also explains why agents feel tainted. One concern with such an approach is that wrongdoing diminishes goodness and so one’s goodness is subject to luck. I address this objection and argue that there is reason to embrace rather than resist this conclusion. I further show how embracing this conclusion gives insight iii into the tragic hero and can explain why the tragic hero is regarded as admirable precisely because she is guilty. iv To my parents for never asking, ‘What are you going to do with that?’ v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, and most importantly, I would like to thank my family, and especially my parents, for their unwavering support which made this possible. I would also like to thank my advisor, Dr. Fred. D. Miller, Jr., and my committee members, Dr. Daniel Jacobson and Dr. David Shoemaker, for their helpful discussions and comprehensive comments. Thanks also to the various participants of Dr. Miller’s dissertation seminar for providing insightful comments, criticisms, and suggestions on my project at various stages. The many good friends I have had the opportunity of making during my time at Bowling Green also deserve many thanks. Finally I would like to thank the Department of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University for the Non-Service Dissertation Fellowship, and for travel-funds which enabled me to present portions of this work at conferences. Thanks also to the University Bookstore for the University Bookstore Graduate Student Professional Development Award. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................1 1.1 Tragic Dilemmas, Moral Dilemmas, and Dirty Hands Scenarios ................................... 1 1.2 Why Tragic Dilemmas are Considered Problematic for Moral Theory .......................... 4 1.3 Folk Morality.................................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Overview of Dissertation ............................................................................................... 11 1.5 Overview of Chapters..................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 2: PHENOMENOLOGICAL FEATURES OF TRAGIC DILEMMAS.................. 18 2.1 Chapter Introduction .......................................................................................................18 2.1.1 Emotions: Individuation and Justification ...........................................................19 2.2 Feeling Torn .................................................................................................................. 23 2.3 Feeling Guilty................................................................................................................. 31 2.3.1 Features of Guilt .................................................................................................. 32 2.3.2 Guilt, Self-evaluation and Reparative Action ......................................................38 2.3.3 Tragic Choices and Guilt ......................................................................................41 2.3.4 Other Emotions .....................................................................................................46 2.4 Feeling Tainted............................................................................................................... 56 2.5 Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 60 CHAPTER 3: PUZZLES ............................................................................................................. 62 3.1 Chapter Introduction .......................................................................................................62 3.2 Feeling Torn ...................................................................................................................63 3.3 Feeling Guilty .................................................................................................................65 3.4 Feeling Tainted ...............................................................................................................69 vii 3.5 Possible Solutions ...........................................................................................................76 CHAPTER FOUR: NEO-ARISTOTELIAN VIRTUE ETHICS ................................................ 81 4.1 Chapter Introduction .......................................................................................................81 4.2 Virtue Ethics, Aristotle, and Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics......................................... 82 4.3 Virtue ..............................................................................................................................84 4.3.1 Dispositions ...........................................................................................................85 4.3.2 Spheres of Value ...................................................................................................89 4.3.3 Response ...............................................................................................................91 4.3.4 Appropriateness ....................................................................................................92 4.4 Virtuous Action ..............................................................................................................97 4.5 Right Action ...................................................................................................................98 4.6 Action Guidance ...........................................................................................................104 4.7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................115 CHAPTER FIVE: TRAGIC DILEMMAS ................................................................................116 5.1 Chapter Introduction .....................................................................................................116 5.2 Tragic Dilemmas ..........................................................................................................118 5.3 Dirty Hands ..................................................................................................................127 5.4 Phenomenology Revisited ............................................................................................130 5.4.1 Feeling Torn ........................................................................................................131 5.4.2 Feeling Guilty .....................................................................................................133 5.4.3 Feeling Tainted ...................................................................................................134 5.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................135 viii CHAPTER SIX: UNITY OF THE VIRTUES AND PRACTICAL WISDOM 138 6.1 Chapter Introduction .....................................................................................................138 6.2 Unity of the Virtues ......................................................................................................139 6.2.1 Objections to the Unity Thesis ............................................................................142 6.2.2 Natural Virtue, Full Virtue, and Practical Wisdom ............................................143 6.2.3 Weak Unity Thesis ..............................................................................................148
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