Title |
The Relationship Between Effort and Moral Worth: Three Amendments to Sorensen’s Model
|
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Published in |
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, July 2013
|
DOI | 10.1007/s10677-013-9441-4 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Thomas Douglas |
Abstract |
Kelly Sorensen defends a model of the relationship between effort and moral worth in which the effort exerted in performing a morally desirable action contributes positively to the action's moral worth, but the effort required to perform the action detracts from its moral worth. I argue that Sorensen's model, though on the right track, is mistaken in three ways. First, it fails to capture the relevance of counterfactual effort to moral worth. Second, it wrongly implies that exerting unnecessary effort confers moral worth on an action. Third, it fails to adequately distinguish between cases in which effort is required because of defects of moral character and those in which effort is required because of barriers external to moral character, such as social pressures or non-moral cognitive deficits. I suggest three amendments to Sorensen's model that correct these three defects. |
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Indonesia | 1 | 14% |
Ireland | 1 | 14% |
Netherlands | 1 | 14% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 14% |
Unknown | 1 | 14% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Members of the public | 5 | 71% |
Scientists | 1 | 14% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 14% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Unknown | 18 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
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Student > Ph. D. Student | 3 | 17% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 2 | 11% |
Professor | 2 | 11% |
Lecturer | 2 | 11% |
Student > Master | 2 | 11% |
Other | 4 | 22% |
Unknown | 3 | 17% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
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Philosophy | 9 | 50% |
Arts and Humanities | 1 | 6% |
Computer Science | 1 | 6% |
Psychology | 1 | 6% |
Social Sciences | 1 | 6% |
Other | 1 | 6% |
Unknown | 4 | 22% |