Blame as performance

Simion, M. (2021) Blame as performance. Synthese, 199(3), pp. 7595-7614. (doi: 10.1007/s11229-021-03130-7)

Abstract

This paper develops a novel account of the nature of blame: on this account, blame is a species of performance with a constitutive aim. The argument for the claim that blame is an action is speech-act theoretic: it relies on the nature of performatives and the parallelism between mental and spoken blame. I argue that the view scores well on prior plausibility and theoretical fruitfulness, in that: it rests on claims that are widely accepted across sub-disciplines, it explains the normativity of blaming and it accounts for associated psychological phenomena.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Simion, Professor Mona
• Authors: Simion, M.
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Philosophy
• Research Group: COGITO Epistemology Research Centre
• Journal Name: Synthese
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0039-7857
• ISSN (Online): 1573-0964
• Published Online: 10 April 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Author
• First Published: First published in Synthese 199(3): 7595-7614
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence