Research
If at First You Don't Succeed: Moral Blameworthiness and Multiple Attempts
Author:
William Wildi
About William
William Wildi is a 3rd year BSc Philosophy, Logic and the Scientic Method student. His main elds of interest are politics, ethics, policy, and philosophy of language.
Abstract
Joel Feinberg argued that a legal distinction between murder and attempted murder where the only difference is outcome luck was not justified. Instead, he proposed replacing both crimes with a charge of ‘Wrongful Homicidal Behaviour’ (WHB). I argue that Feinberg ignores a significant difference between attempted and successful murders: it is possible to commit attempted murder multiple times on the same person. I argue that this feature is sometimes morally relevant, and therefore WHB is too simplistic.
How to Cite:
Wildi, W., 2016. If at First You Don't Succeed: Moral Blameworthiness and Multiple Attempts. Rerum Causae, 8(1), pp.22–29.
Published on
01 Jan 2016.
Peer Reviewed
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