Excuses

This chapter looks at the sorts of excuse that might apply to the various sorts of wrongdoing. An agent who acts subjectively wrongly could not have a simple excuse of ignorance or lack of control, but it is possible that mitigating factors apply. Mitigating circumstances, like excuses, show that what is really going on is that the agent is not acting as badly as it appears she is. Next, the chapter examines cases of mixed motivations, where an agent is trying hard enough to be acting subjectively rightly, but something goes wrong with her act, not through external bad luck, but through the agent’s own flawed motivations. In such cases the agent is praiseworthy in the ordinary way for trying, but we are bound to react with a species of detached blame to her bad motives. Finally, the chapter considers the role that unfortunate formative circumstances play in reducing blameworthiness.