Nick, C orcid.org/0000-0002-6394-6368 (2021) Are Citizens Causally Responsible for Voting Outcomes? Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 121 (1). pp. 101-109. ISSN 0066-7374
Abstract
Can we hold citizens causally responsible for the outcomes of their voting decisions? They could stand in the causal relationship required for such responsibility either collectively or individually. Recent accounts ascribing responsibility to citizens have primarily taken the collective route because of a major obstacle to using an individualistic approach, namely, the problem of overdetermination: the actions of each citizen do not make an individual difference to, and therefore cannot be a cause of, the overall political outcome. I suggest, drawing on Parfit (1984) and Wright (1985), that we should allow for the idea that individuals can be causally responsible in virtue of making a difference to an outcome not only as an individual, but also as part of a set of agents. I conclude that we can therefore overcome the problem of overdetermination for the individualistic approach and that it merits further investigation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: | |
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Aristotelian Society. This is an author produced version of an article, published in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Nov 2020 16:13 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jan 2023 01:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/arisoc/aoaa020 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:168091 |