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Abstract

In the previous chapter we saw that modern ethical theory has great difficulties in dealing with problems involving risk and uncertainty. The purpose of this chapter is to show that these difficulties are symptoms of fundamental deficiencies in the conception of human agency. We will start the diagnostic work by scrutinizing how the consequences of actions are delimited (Sections 3.1 and 3.2). This leads us to the core of the matter, namely the underlying view of causality (Section 3.3). The central claim of this chapter is that ethical thinking has been hampered by an outdated, pre-Newtonian view of causality that has largely been imported into ethics from decision theory (where it may be a more serviceable idealization). In order to deal satisfactorily with real-life problems such as those involving risk and uncertainty, ethical theory needs to develop an understanding of causality and consequentialness that is compatible with our knowledge of the physical world. In Section 3.4 some major implications for ethical theory of a more realistic view of causality are pointed out. Finally, Section 3.5 summarizes the lessons we ave learnt in this and the previous chapter on how a moral account of risk should be constructed.