The Power of Care

Nina Simone sang: ‘I’m just a soul whose intentions are good’. Paulina Sliwa (2019) defends a subtle, worked out picture on which Simone’s excuse turns out to be the basic form of an excuse. But good intention is a straitjacket that most excuses resist. There are cases where someone has an excuse, and the intention they have is just neutral. There are cases where someone has an excuse, and the intention they have is actually bad. In both sorts of case, the agent’s excuse must consist in something other than a good intention. I argue that it consists in their caring as they ought. The basic form of an excuse is ‘She cared; her heart was in the right place’.