RT Article
T1 ‘Dirty Hands’: Guilt and Regret in Moral Reasoning
JF Studies in Christian ethics
VO 36
IS 1
SP 107
OP 122
A1 Gingles, Dallas J.
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2023
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1835663087
AB Nigel Biggar argues against ‘dirty hands’ reasoning for two reasons. The first is that dirty hands reasoning is paradoxical. The second is that ‘dirt’ in dirty hands is often—and wrongly—conceived as guilt. According to Biggar, the dirt should instead be understood as regret. In this article, I defend dirty hands reasoning against both criticisms. On the one hand, I argue that dirty hands reasoning is not necessarily paradoxical. On the other, I argue that, because guilt, more than regret, is meant to motivate the agent we should prefer a prima facie interpretation of the ‘dirt’ in dirty hands as guilt instead of regret.
K1 Moral Reasoning
K1 Moral emotions
K1 Regret
K1 Guilt
K1 Dirty Hands
K1 Nigel Biggar
DO 10.1177/09539468221116300