The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a seminar with Gunnar Björnsson, Stockholm University, who will present work co-authored with Romy Eskens on "Negative partiality as rebalancing".
Abstract: When someone has wronged you, and they have not repaired their wrongdoing, you seem permitted to discount the weight of that person’s interests and point of view in your practical deliberation. Brandt (2020) and Lange (2020) have recently argued that these permissions to discount are explained by the moral quality of the personal relationship you have with your perpetrator (the Relationship View). Whilst morally positive personal relationships with intimates generate special permissions to favor intimates’ well-being, morally negative personal relationships with perpetrators generate special permissions to disfavor perpetrators’ well-being. We reject the Relationship View in favor of the Rebalancing View. The Rebalancing View holds that the permission to discount perpetrators’ interests is explained by the need to restore balance in the relative standing of victims and perpetrators post-wrongdoing. We argue that the Rebalancing View is superior to the Relationship View in two respects: it is more extensionally adequate and has more explanatory power.
All interested are welcome to participate in this seminar.
This seminar is held online in Zoom. Link for participation will be distributed by email to the seminar distribution list. If you wish to participate but are not on this list you can get the link by contacting Pär Sundström, see below.
Learn more about the seminar series in Philosophy and upcoming events
