The issue is not causality. The issue is moral responsibility.
Agreed. But I think if you want to separate the two, you need a reasonable account of the distinction. One plausible account relies on reasonably foreseeable consequences to ground responsibility, and this is pretty much my view. It accounts easily for the neighbor, bowling ball, and Jack and Jill cases, but still implies responsibility for the 11th man.
I can accept a view that says that, all things considered, the king has a greater causal influence on the outcome of the 11th man case, and thus bears much greater moral responsibility for it than does the 11th man. But (and this was the point of the no-single-true-cause analogy) I see no reason why this should imply that the 11th man has no responsibility whatsoever, given that the death of 10 innocent others is a clearly foreseeable consequence of his choice.
I still think this is a convenient conclusion designed to let you be selfish without feeling like you’re doing anything wrong.
P.S. FWIW, yes I pretty much do think you’re evil if you’re not willing to sacrifice $100 to save 10 lives in your hostage example. I can understand not being willing to die, even if I think it would be morally better to sacrifice oneself. (And I readily confess that it’s possible that I would take the morally wrong/weak choice if actually faced with this situation.) But for $100 I wouldn’t hesitate.
One plausible account relies on reasonably foreseeable consequences to ground responsibility, and this is pretty much my view.
I can understand that. I have not dug quite so deeply into this area of my ethical map so it could be representing the territory poorly. What little mental exercises I have done have led me to this point.
I guess the example that really puts me in a pickle is asking what would happen if Jack knew the door was rigged but opened it anyway. It makes sense that Jack shares the blame. There seems to be something in me that says the physical action weighs against Jack.
So, if I had to write it up quickly:
Being a physical cause in a chain of events that leads to harm
While knowing the physical action has a high likelihood of leading to harm
Is evil
But, on the other hand:
Being a non-physical cause in a chain of events that leads to harm
While knowing the non-physical action has a high likelihood of leading to harm
Is not necessarily evil but can be sometimes
Weird. That sure seems like an inconsistency to me. Looks like I need to get the mapmaking tools out. The stickiness of the eleventh man is that the king is another moral entity and the king somehow shrouds the eleventh from actually making a moral choice. But I do not have justification for that distinction.
There may yet be justification, but working backwards is not proper. Once I get the whole thing worked out I will report what I find, if you are interested.
Agreed. But I think if you want to separate the two, you need a reasonable account of the distinction. One plausible account relies on reasonably foreseeable consequences to ground responsibility, and this is pretty much my view. It accounts easily for the neighbor, bowling ball, and Jack and Jill cases, but still implies responsibility for the 11th man.
I can accept a view that says that, all things considered, the king has a greater causal influence on the outcome of the 11th man case, and thus bears much greater moral responsibility for it than does the 11th man. But (and this was the point of the no-single-true-cause analogy) I see no reason why this should imply that the 11th man has no responsibility whatsoever, given that the death of 10 innocent others is a clearly foreseeable consequence of his choice.
I still think this is a convenient conclusion designed to let you be selfish without feeling like you’re doing anything wrong.
P.S. FWIW, yes I pretty much do think you’re evil if you’re not willing to sacrifice $100 to save 10 lives in your hostage example. I can understand not being willing to die, even if I think it would be morally better to sacrifice oneself. (And I readily confess that it’s possible that I would take the morally wrong/weak choice if actually faced with this situation.) But for $100 I wouldn’t hesitate.
I can understand that. I have not dug quite so deeply into this area of my ethical map so it could be representing the territory poorly. What little mental exercises I have done have led me to this point.
I guess the example that really puts me in a pickle is asking what would happen if Jack knew the door was rigged but opened it anyway. It makes sense that Jack shares the blame. There seems to be something in me that says the physical action weighs against Jack.
So, if I had to write it up quickly:
Being a physical cause in a chain of events that leads to harm
While knowing the physical action has a high likelihood of leading to harm
Is evil
But, on the other hand:
Being a non-physical cause in a chain of events that leads to harm
While knowing the non-physical action has a high likelihood of leading to harm
Is not necessarily evil but can be sometimes
Weird. That sure seems like an inconsistency to me. Looks like I need to get the mapmaking tools out. The stickiness of the eleventh man is that the king is another moral entity and the king somehow shrouds the eleventh from actually making a moral choice. But I do not have justification for that distinction.
There may yet be justification, but working backwards is not proper. Once I get the whole thing worked out I will report what I find, if you are interested.
Good luck with the map-making! I’d certainly be interested to know what you find, if and when you find it.