Colloquium - Dr. George Tsai

“RESPECT AND THE EFFICACY OF BLAME” What moral psychological conditions enable blame to be effective - to modify the thoughts, attitudes, and motives of the blamed? Professor Tsai argues that blame’s efficacy depends not only on the blamed agent’s acknowledgement of the justificatory force of the negative moral evaluation blame involves; it may also depend on the blamed agent’s background interest in having the blaming agent’s respect. Understanding the role of respect in furthering blame’s efficacy allows us to address a puzzle raised by Bernard Williams’s remark that “blame operates in a space between coercion and full deliberative cooperation.”

George Tsai joined the philosophy department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2012. From 2013-2014, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Philosophy at the Australian National University. He works mainly in moral and political philosophy, broadly construed. The topics of his current research include: rational persuasion, blame, trust, exploitation, disgust, proleptic interaction, state communication, and structural oppression. His publications include “Rational Persuasion as Paternalism” (Philosophy & Public Affairs) and “An Error Theory for Liberal Universalism” (Journal of Political Philosophy). Everyone is welcome to attend. For more information , please call 956-8649.

Ticket Information
Free

Event Sponsor
Philosophy Department , Mānoa Campus

More Information
Pat Pimental, 956-8649, philo@hawaii.edu, Colloquium Flyer (PDF)

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