Concept tag
#intention
-
Outcomes rightly change how much we blame someone, even when luck decided them
Two drivers leave the same wedding equally drunk and drive equally badly. One gets home. The other hits a child who ran into the road. In every court I have covered, the second driver faces something far heavier than the first, and…
Started by Sana Rizvi5 replies -
What is the doctrine of double effect, and did Aquinas really come up with it?
Yesterday's lecture mentioned the "doctrine of double effect" and said it goes back to Thomas Aquinas. The lecturer moved on quickly and I didn't fully follow. Here's what I understood. If I swerve to avoid a child who runs into the road…
Started by Serkan Aydoğdu4 replies -
What is the difference between my arm rising and my raising it? A capoeirista asks
One of my capoeira students brought me a question from her philosophy class that I can't stop thinking about: what is the difference between your arm rising and you raising your arm? In the roda this matters all the time. A good…
Started by Jorge Bonfim4 replies -
Double effect is a genuine moral distinction, not a lawyer’s trick for doing harm with clean hands
Every year at least one of my students arrives having read online that the doctrine of double effect is Catholic casuistry: a way to do what you want and say you did not intend it. I want to defend it as a…
Started by Ikechukwu Anyanwu6 replies -
Accident or intent: how should a court decide what someone actually did?
The cases that kept me awake, in my years reporting from the courts, were not the ones where anyone doubted who struck the blow. They were the ones where we knew exactly what happened physically, and everything depended on what the accused…
Started by Khalid Mahmood Awan4 replies -
Austin says a vow on stage is void. The jurists said some words bind even in jest. Who is right?
This one comes from the courtroom. Since retiring I have been reading Austin, and one of his remarks keeps returning me to my old law books. Austin says a performative is "hollow" when said by an actor on a stage or as…
Started by Khalid Mahmood Awan4 replies