Professor Dana Nelkin University of California, San Diego

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Standing, Blame, and Criticism

In this paper, I begin with a set of puzzles about hypocritical blame in which our intuitions seem to be pulled in different directions.  I then investigate two kinds of solutions.  The first makes a distinction between the grounds of standing to blame and other nearby responses, such as correction and criticism, about which there is a lively debate.  The second makes a distinction between the standing to blame in some ways and not in others.  While a number of theorists have distinguished between “private” and “expressed” blame in this connection, there has been less exploration of a distinction between various forms of expressed blame.  In the process of assessing both suggestions, I identify a previously under-explored explanation for why hypocritical blame is problematic that provides support for the case that the norms of blame and criticism are different, and offer reasons for thinking that the norms of blame are more fine-grained than is often assumed.