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Chapter 5 - The Closeness Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2021

Joshua Stuchlik
Affiliation:
University of St Thomas, Minnesota
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Summary

The goal of Chapter 5 is to respond to a long-standing objection to the PDE known as the closeness problem. The problem is supposed to arise because intentions are sufficiently fine-grained that an agent need not intend harm in nearly any situation. The PDE therefore fails to rule out conduct that is intuitively objectionable in a host of cases unless it is supplemented with a criterion of excessive closeness, whose role is to identify things that are “too close” to harm to be considered incidental for purposes of double effect. However, it also proves extremely difficult to specify a criterion of closeness that is not arbitrary or subject to counterexamples. The closeness problem is often thought to be particularly acute for Anscombe-style accounts of intentional action, such as the one I presented in Chapter 4. I argue, however, that the magnitude of the closeness problem has been exaggerated and that the PDE does not need to be supplemented by a criterion of closeness.

Type
Chapter
Information
Intention and Wrongdoing
In Defense of Double Effect
, pp. 101 - 133
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • The Closeness Problem
  • Joshua Stuchlik, University of St Thomas, Minnesota
  • Book: Intention and Wrongdoing
  • Online publication: 02 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030410.007
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  • The Closeness Problem
  • Joshua Stuchlik, University of St Thomas, Minnesota
  • Book: Intention and Wrongdoing
  • Online publication: 02 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030410.007
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Closeness Problem
  • Joshua Stuchlik, University of St Thomas, Minnesota
  • Book: Intention and Wrongdoing
  • Online publication: 02 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030410.007
Available formats
×