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Response to Thought Experiment 34: Don't Blame Me

11/20/2015

4 Comments

 
Picture
I think I've seen this before. (This is the view on the Canadian $20 bill.)
Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come, but I'm finding this week's thought experiment to be very repetitive after all the one's I've already reviewed. I hope you won't blame me for treating it quickly with a few references to what I've already written.

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     "Mary, Mungo, and Midge. You stand accused of a grievous crime. What do you have to say for yourselves?
     "Yes, I did it," said Mary. "But it wasn't my fault. I consulted an expert and she told me that was what I ought to do. So don't blame me, blame her."
     "I too did it," said Mungo. "But it wasn't my fault. I consulted my therapist and she told me that was what I ought to do. So don't blame me, blame her."
     "I won't deny I did it," said Midge. "But it wasn't my fault. I consulted an astrologer and she told me that since Neptune was in Aries, that's what I should have done. So don't blame me, blame him."
     The judge sighed and issued his verdict. "Since this case is without precedent, I have had to discuss it with my senior colleagues. And I'm afraid to say that your arguments did not persuade them. I sentence you all to the maximum term. But, please remember that I consulted my peers and they told me to deliver this sentence. So don't blame me, blame them."


Source: Existentialism and Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre, 1948.

Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 100.

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This little story doesn't ask a specific question of us, but it does allow us to go in several different directions for discussion depending on which aspects of the experiment you want to focus on. Unfortunately, I've already gone down each of those paths. Let's run through them:

​You could focus on the fact that Mary, Mungo, and Midge all agreed with someone else's opinion to justify their actions, which begs the question if they committed the confirmation bias fallacy - the tendency to favor information that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses and to ignore information that disagrees with one's point of view. I discussed this during a review of the lengthy list of fallacies one could consider in response to thought experiment 3: The Indian and the Ice.

You could focus on the fact that Mary, Mungo, and Midge all claimed blamelessness because they intended to do the right thing based on advice they got from people they trusted, which brings up what I wrote in my post on justice (and in response to thought experiment 7: When No One Wins): Intention and causation are not necessary for an action to be judged good or evil. Those judgments are based on objective reality and whether or not the actions promote or hinder the long-term survival of life. Praise or blame for these actions is tied to intention or neglect of intention. The magnitude of reward or punishment doled out from society should be proportional to the intention or the neglect.

You could focus on the fact that Mary, Mungo, and Midge all made a choice, which brings up the whole free will vs. determinism debate. I've already discussed my compatibilism at length though and in response to thought experiment 9: Bigger Brother.

You could focus on the fact that Mary, Mungo, and Midge each relied on people with varying levels of expertise, which brings up the question of what is reasonably required to do due diligence on a subject, which I also discussed in response to thought experiment 27: Duties Done.

Or finally, you could focus on the fact that this experiment comes from Existentialism and Humanism, a little 70-page book from Jean-Paul Sartre who "later rejected some of the views he expressed...and regretted its publication." Nonetheless, it was the source of the term "existence precedes essence", which "subsequently became a maxim of the existentialist movement. Put simply, this means that there is nothing to dictate a person's character, goals in life, and so on; that only the individual can define his or her essence. According to Sartre, 'man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards'. Thus, Sartre rejects what he calls 'deterministic excuses' and claims that people must take responsibility for their behaviour." All of this, I responded to in my review of Sartre.

So, that's all I'd like to write this week. I think I've done a little better job of responding to this than the smart aleck judge who used the same excuse that Mary, Mungo, and Midge did. At least I referred to the existence of *my own* writings, which have already answered the essence of this thought experiment. Don't blame me if you haven't read them before.
4 Comments
John A. Johnson link
11/20/2015 11:36:06 pm

I lean toward the view that blaming, accepting blame, and rejecting blame are moves in a social game involving attempts by people to control one another. What matters is not whether the three M's responses to escape blame can be logically justified, but how what they say will affect those who are trying to blame them. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cui-bono/201205/dont-blame-yourself-or-others

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@EdGibney link
11/21/2015 05:43:38 pm

That's an interesting perspective John. This experiment takes place in a court of law so I really only considered the criminal justice elements of blame and intent (vs. exoneration and unknowingness), but I see what you mean by your post concerning Al-Anon members. I suppose the criminal justice system could be construed as "a social game involving attempts to control one another" so sure, the three Ms are trying to game that system by dodging blame for their actions.

I'm interested in what you said at the end of your post, that: "Accepting that I naturally do my best all the time (because I cannot do better than my best) absolves me from self-blame." Do you really think this is the case? Shouldn't we exhort people to do better? For example, you admitted at the beginning of your spot that you didn't read any moral philosopher's takes on blame or the psychological literature on blame. Wouldn't it have been better to do so? You've clearly read lots of experts opinions before and learned from them. Why not this time? I don't really blame you for this one blog post of yours, but would I be to blame if I did?

Reply
John A. Johnson link
11/22/2015 04:01:30 pm

Of course it is possible for me to do something better in the future than I just did at the present moment. And it is possible that exhortations from others could help me do better in the future than I just did in the present moment. But at each present moment my performance is the best it can possibly be, given the current state of my brain and body. It could not and therefore should not have been better. Given that my performance could not have been better, there is no sense in beating myself up for my performance, even a disappointing performance. Compassion is a better response. This is perfectly compatible with looking for ways to do better in the future.

Likewise, when I am disappointed in the behavior of other people, I try to remember that they were doing the best they could at the time, given the background and circumstances that led to their state of mind at the time. Instead of trying to force them to behave differently in the future by angrily yelling at them and criticizing them, I prefer to conjure up the compassion to understand how they were doing the best they could at the time. Depending on the circumstances, I may or may not look for ways to encourage them to behave differently in the future.

My thoughts about doing one's best come from the writings of don Miguel Ruiz, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cui-bono/201012/agreeing-the-four-agreements . My thoughts about compassion as a response to behavior I find disagreeable come from the writings of Timothy Miller, http://www.amazon.com/How-Want-What-You-Have/dp/0380726823 .

@EdGibney link
11/22/2015 10:46:42 pm

Okay, I like pointing out the difference between future and past behaviour as mouldable or not. And since we obviously can't change the past, yelling at people and criticising them really doesn't do any good there. I wonder if there is a distinction to be made about the different definitions of blaming though between "finding culpable" and "criticising". I seem to be talking about the first aspect, while maybe you are more concerned with the second usage.

I get what you are saying then. That's why I do think punitive/retributive punishment in the criminal justice system is pointless. We can still hold people accountable for their wrongdoing though and have restorative justice and rehabilitation as goals for suitable punishment / behavioural modification. That seems to me to be blaming someone without necessarily criticising them.

I used to say at work all the time that it is extremely rare outside of Hollywood to find villains who are plotting evil. Most people are just trying to do the best they can for whatever it is they value. So I mostly agree with your sense that people are doing their best. I find your view of compassion important and admirable, though I'm not yet able to extend it all the time. Or always towards myself. Sometimes, I look back and know that I *should* have acted better, and think that I *could* have done so. I don't beat myself up over that, but I can still wince and blame myself and use that as a reminder to motivate better behaviour next time. I know I judge others occasionally too as doing something they *should* have known better about. But maybe that's fruitless more often than not.

This reminds me of a saying I got from a Buddhist book once - "pain in life is unavoidable, suffering is not." The author meant that we choose to continue to suffer over things in the present, when really we should just let the pain go as something in the past that we can no longer change. Whenever we hold on to blaming someone in the critical sense, maybe we are holding on to a suffering that isn't really helpful. I could get behind that. I know I let that blaming go for loved ones. I should try more for others too. Although the thought, "come on, you're just being lazy!" still creeps in for athletes and students whenever I encounter less than their best efforts. Maybe that's just me projecting my own stronger desires onto them though. Hmmm. Good food for thought. Thanks.

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