USF Ethics Dealing with The Relationship Between Blame & Causation Cases Discussion

Module 4 will be dealing with the relationship between blame and causation. Prior to covering that material, I would like for you to think about how causation and blame are related, using the following scenarios.

Scenario 1: Without your roommate’s approval, you take their car out for a joy ride and ride it fast and hard, braking heavy at times. On the way home you recognize that the brakes are not working as well as they were prior to you taking the car (assume that you are the cause of the faulty brakes). Despite this knowledge, you do not tell your roommate. The next day, your roommate is headed to school. On the way to school, they see a dog dart into the road, slam on the brakes, but the brakes did not work as efficiently as they normally do. They hit the dog, and it dies.

Scenario 2: Your roommate is about to drive to school. As a joke, you hide their keys. They spend a few minutes looking and finally you tell them where you hid the keys.On the way to school, they are carelessly driving and hit a dog that had run into the street. The dog dies as a result. They come home and say that you are the cause of the dog’s death and that you are morally to blame. After all, if it was not for your hiding their keys, they would have long passed the dog that darted into the street, despite their careless driving.

Scenario 3: Your roommate is about to drive to school. You stop them and ask if they can help you lift a box prior to leaving for school. They gladly help. On the way to school, they are carelessly driving and hit a dog that had run into the street. The dog dies as a result. They come home and say that you are the cause of the dog’s death and that you are morally to blame. After all, if it was not for your request to help lift the box, they would have long passed the dog that darted into the street, despite their careless driving.

Scenario 4: You convince your friend to move in with you. One day they are headed to school. They are driving carelessly and hit a dog that had run into the street. The dog dies as a result. They come home and say that you are the cause of the dog’s death and that you are morally to blame. After all, if you did not ask them to move in with you, they would have never happened to hit the dog, despite their careless driving.

Write a two paragraph response in which you answer the following questions?

Paragraph 1

a. In which of the scenarios (if any) would you say that you are the cause of the dog’s death? Explain your answer. Be sure to say why you are the cause (if indeed you are) in some of the scenarios and why you are not the cause in others. In other words, what is the key difference which makes you the cause in some of the scenarios (if indeed you are) and not the cause in others?

b. In your response in 1a, how are you defining ’cause’ and how does your definition of ’cause’ help determine your answer to 1a?

Paragraph 2

a. In which of the scenarios (if any) would you say that you are morally to blame for the death of the dog? Explain your answer using concepts we have learned from previous modules. Be sure to clearly connect those concepts to the scenario(s) in which you think you are morally to blame. And if you think you are not morally to blame in any of the scenarios, be sure to explain how the concepts regarding moral blame fail to connect to the scenarios.

b. From your responses in 1a, 1b, and 2a and from comparing the above four scenarios, how do you think causation and moral blame are related and/or not related? Be sure to explain your answer.

Other than 2a, I am asking you to think about how we use terms like ’cause’ and ‘blame’ in ordinary, day to day reasoning. Other than in 2a, there are no right or wrong answers. What I will be looking for is how completely you respond to each part of the prompt and how well you explain your answers.