Causation and Responsibility : An Essay in Law, Morals, and Metaphysics
Free delivery worldwide
Available. Expected delivery to the United States in 8-11 business days.
Not ordering to the United States? Click here.
Description
The concept of causation is fundamental to ascribing moral and legal responsibility for events. Yet the relationship between causation and responsibility remains unclear. What precisely is the connection between the concept of causation used in attributing responsibility and the accounts of causal relations offered in the philosophy of science and metaphysics? How much of what we call causal responsibility is in truth defined by non-causal factors? This book argues
that much of the legal doctrine on these questions is confused and incoherent, and offers the first comprehensive attempt since Hart and Honore to clarify the philosophical background to the legal and moral debates.
The book first sets out the place of causation in criminal and tort law and outlines the metaphysics presupposed by the legal doctrine. It then analyses the best theoretical accounts of causation in the philosophy of science and metaphysics, and using these accounts criticises many of the core legal concepts surrounding causation - such as intervening causation, forseeability of harm and complicity. It considers and rejects the radical proposals to eliminate the notion of causation from law by
using risk analysis to attribute responsibility. The result of the analysis is a powerful argument for revising our understanding of the role played by causation in the attribution of legal and moral responsibility.
show more
that much of the legal doctrine on these questions is confused and incoherent, and offers the first comprehensive attempt since Hart and Honore to clarify the philosophical background to the legal and moral debates.
The book first sets out the place of causation in criminal and tort law and outlines the metaphysics presupposed by the legal doctrine. It then analyses the best theoretical accounts of causation in the philosophy of science and metaphysics, and using these accounts criticises many of the core legal concepts surrounding causation - such as intervening causation, forseeability of harm and complicity. It considers and rejects the radical proposals to eliminate the notion of causation from law by
using risk analysis to attribute responsibility. The result of the analysis is a powerful argument for revising our understanding of the role played by causation in the attribution of legal and moral responsibility.
show more
Product details
- Paperback | 634 pages
- 161 x 234 x 39mm | 964g
- 05 Nov 2010
- Oxford University Press
- Oxford, United Kingdom
- English
- Reprint
- 0199599513
- 9780199599516
- 508,233
Table of contents
I. THE ROLE OF CAUSATION IN MORAL AND LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY; II. PRESUPPOSITIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF CAUSATION BY LEGAL DOCTRINES; III. THE FIRST BLIND ALLEY: THE ATTEMPT TO REPLACE PROXIMATE CAUSATION WITH CULPABILITY AS A PREREQUISITE FOR LEGAL LIABILITY; IV. THE LEGAL PRESUPPOSITION OF THERE BEING 'INTERVENING CAUSES'; V. THE METAPHYSICS OF CAUSAL RELATA; VI. THE METAPHYSICS OF THE CAUSAL RELATION; APPENDIX; BIBLIOGRAPHY
show more
show more
Review quote
impressive and throrough * Carolina Sartorio, Mind *
show more
show more
About Michael S. Moore
Michael Moore holds the Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Chair at the University of Illinois, where he is jointly appointed as the Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy. His major works include Placing Blame (OUP, 1997), Act and Crime, (OUP, 1993) and Law and Psychiatry (CUP, 1984).
show more
show more
