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Acts and Morals Cover
By: Ori Simchen  
Open Access
|Nov 2023

Abstract

Smith shoots Jones intentionally but kills Jones unintentionally. How can a single act be both intentional and unintentional? Fine’s theory of embodiment construes the compatibility of intentional shooting with unintentional killing through a pluralist framework of qua objects that distinguishes the act qua being a shooting from the act qua being a killing as two distinct qua objects. I compare this pluralist account with a more traditional monist take on qua modification according to which there is only one item there, a single act which is intentional qua being a shooting and unintentional qua being a killing. According to the latter monist view, to be intentional is to bear a relation to a qua property. I argue that consideration of our moral practices from a participant standpoint gives the monist view a clear advantage over its pluralist rival. I end by sketching a monist alternative superior to both.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/met.126 | Journal eISSN: 2515-8279
Language: English
Submitted on: Jul 3, 2023
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Accepted on: Oct 5, 2023
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Published on: Nov 27, 2023
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2023 Ori Simchen, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.