Abstract
I challenge the adequacy of David Brink’s “master principle” of culpability. I allege that it fails to account for the moral relevance of ignorance of wrongdoing. I describe three cases in which I believe that Brink’s theory of normative competence cannot account for the significance of a variable that bears on culpability. In most of this paper I attempt to anticipate and reply to the various responses Brink might offer to my challenge.
Similar content being viewed by others
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Kim Ferzan for helping me to avoid errors in a previous draft of this essay.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Husak, D. Is Fair Opportunity a Comprehensive Theory of Responsibility?. Criminal Law, Philosophy (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-023-09676-6
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-023-09676-6