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Journal article 975 views 257 downloads

When Should we Regret?

Paddy McQueen Orcid Logo

International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Volume: 25, Issue: 5, Pages: 608 - 623

Swansea University Author: Paddy McQueen Orcid Logo

Abstract

In this paper, I develop and defend the ‘Justified Decision Perspective’ (JDP) as a response to the issue of when we should regret the things that we have done. I argue that one should not regret a past decision that one made if it was justified at the time of acting. By “justified” I mean that the...

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Published in: International Journal of Philosophical Studies
ISSN: 0967-2559 1466-4542
Published: 2017
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa48280
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spelling 2019-03-11T10:37:42.4972754 v2 48280 2019-01-18 When Should we Regret? 4e2ee88771eac4a88ad1bc294afec919 0000-0001-9696-8654 Paddy McQueen Paddy McQueen true false 2019-01-18 APC In this paper, I develop and defend the ‘Justified Decision Perspective’ (JDP) as a response to the issue of when we should regret the things that we have done. I argue that one should not regret a past decision that one made if it was justified at the time of acting. By “justified” I mean that the decision was an appropriate one an agent to make, given who they were and what they could reasonably know at the time of acting. According to this time-indexing account, judging a decision to be justified – at least for the purposes of assessing one’s regrets – is a matter of identifying the practical reasons that were epistemically available to the agent when she was deliberating about what to do. Therefore, when assessing her regrets, an agent should not invoke (a) reasons that existed but were not epistemically available to her when she was deliberating about what to do; or (b) reasons that only came into existence after she acted. The JDP has important implications for prospective regret. It implies that we should worry much less about experiencing regret in the future than many of us do. Journal Article International Journal of Philosophical Studies 25 5 608 623 0967-2559 1466-4542 Identity over time; Justified decision-making; Personal identity; Practical reasons; Regret 1 12 2017 2017-12-01 10.1080/09672559.2017.1381408 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09672559.2017.1381408?redirect=1 COLLEGE NANME Politics, Philosophy and International Relations COLLEGE CODE APC Swansea University 2019-03-11T10:37:42.4972754 2019-01-18T09:29:09.7664532 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations Paddy McQueen 0000-0001-9696-8654 1 0048280-11022019133937.pdf 48280.pdf 2019-02-11T13:39:37.6530000 Output 92630 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2019-02-10T00:00:00.0000000 true eng
title When Should we Regret?
spellingShingle When Should we Regret?
Paddy McQueen
title_short When Should we Regret?
title_full When Should we Regret?
title_fullStr When Should we Regret?
title_full_unstemmed When Should we Regret?
title_sort When Should we Regret?
author_id_str_mv 4e2ee88771eac4a88ad1bc294afec919
author_id_fullname_str_mv 4e2ee88771eac4a88ad1bc294afec919_***_Paddy McQueen
author Paddy McQueen
author2 Paddy McQueen
format Journal article
container_title International Journal of Philosophical Studies
container_volume 25
container_issue 5
container_start_page 608
publishDate 2017
institution Swansea University
issn 0967-2559
1466-4542
doi_str_mv 10.1080/09672559.2017.1381408
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09672559.2017.1381408?redirect=1
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description In this paper, I develop and defend the ‘Justified Decision Perspective’ (JDP) as a response to the issue of when we should regret the things that we have done. I argue that one should not regret a past decision that one made if it was justified at the time of acting. By “justified” I mean that the decision was an appropriate one an agent to make, given who they were and what they could reasonably know at the time of acting. According to this time-indexing account, judging a decision to be justified – at least for the purposes of assessing one’s regrets – is a matter of identifying the practical reasons that were epistemically available to the agent when she was deliberating about what to do. Therefore, when assessing her regrets, an agent should not invoke (a) reasons that existed but were not epistemically available to her when she was deliberating about what to do; or (b) reasons that only came into existence after she acted. The JDP has important implications for prospective regret. It implies that we should worry much less about experiencing regret in the future than many of us do.
published_date 2017-12-01T03:58:39Z
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