Riots, Blame and the Limits of the Deep SelfNicolai Krejberg Knudsen (Aarhus University)
June 9, 2025, 3:15pm - 4:45pm
This event is online
Organisers:
Stockholm University
University of Gothenburg
University of Vienna
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The Collective Ethics Seminar: Online Presentation – June 9 2025 – 15.15 – 16.45 CEST / 09.15 – 10.45 EST.
Nicolai Krejberg Knudsen (Aarhus University) – Riots, Blame and the Limits of the Deep Self
On Monday 9 June 2025, Nicolai Krejberg Knudsen (Aarhus University) will give a presentation in the Collective Ethics Seminar entitled “Riots, Blame and the Limits of the Deep Self”.
Abstract: Deep self theories claim that an agent is responsible for an action if and only if that action expresses the evaluative outlook grounded in their deep self. If this view is correct, it should also account for our responsibility practices in messy social settings such as riots. I argue that it does not. In collective contexts, the social dynamics shaping agents’ actions can complicate the causal connection between their deep selves and their behavior or disrupt the content coherence between their evaluative outlooks and their actions. In such cases, deep self conditions fail, yet some form of blame remains fitting. I propose an alternative account centered on socially grounded evaluative outlooks: when group dynamics structure how agents jointly attend to and respond to their environment, they generate emergent evaluative patterns that can serve as apt targets of moral blame. I argue that these patterns preserve the core functions of blame, allowing responsibility practices to remain intelligible even where deep self conditions break down. This offers a better explanation of how social dynamics alter responsibility practices and reveals important limits in deep self theories of blame.
The online seminar is open for all to attend. The session starts at 15.15 CEST / 09.15 EST. You can join the session via the following link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/62736288881?pwd=SndEdTNoNlZtSzJqcmpabm5NaWIyUT09
For more information about the seminar, please see https://social.univie.ac.at/events/collective-ethics-seminar/.
We hope to see you at the seminar!
Kind regards,
Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm University), Olle Blomberg (University of Gothenburg), and Niels de Haan (University of Vienna)
Nicolai Krejberg Knudsen (Aarhus University) – Riots, Blame and the Limits of the Deep Self
On Monday 9 June 2025, Nicolai Krejberg Knudsen (Aarhus University) will give a presentation in the Collective Ethics Seminar entitled “Riots, Blame and the Limits of the Deep Self”.
Abstract: Deep self theories claim that an agent is responsible for an action if and only if that action expresses the evaluative outlook grounded in their deep self. If this view is correct, it should also account for our responsibility practices in messy social settings such as riots. I argue that it does not. In collective contexts, the social dynamics shaping agents’ actions can complicate the causal connection between their deep selves and their behavior or disrupt the content coherence between their evaluative outlooks and their actions. In such cases, deep self conditions fail, yet some form of blame remains fitting. I propose an alternative account centered on socially grounded evaluative outlooks: when group dynamics structure how agents jointly attend to and respond to their environment, they generate emergent evaluative patterns that can serve as apt targets of moral blame. I argue that these patterns preserve the core functions of blame, allowing responsibility practices to remain intelligible even where deep self conditions break down. This offers a better explanation of how social dynamics alter responsibility practices and reveals important limits in deep self theories of blame.
The online seminar is open for all to attend. The session starts at 15.15 CEST / 09.15 EST. You can join the session via the following link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/62736288881?pwd=SndEdTNoNlZtSzJqcmpabm5NaWIyUT09
For more information about the seminar, please see https://social.univie.ac.at/events/collective-ethics-seminar/.
We hope to see you at the seminar!
Kind regards,
Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm University), Olle Blomberg (University of Gothenburg), and Niels de Haan (University of Vienna)
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