Responsibility Pie: Application to Ellin's Argument
Responsibility Pie Assumption: For any wrongdoing there is a fixed
amount of responsibility to be spread around.
Suppose: False belief generated 10 units badness
| Mere Deception | Lying |
|---|
| Deceiver/Liar: | 7 units of
responsibility | 9
units of responsibility |
| Victim: | 3 units of
responsibility | 1 unit of responsibility |
| Total: | 10 | 10 |
So, the deceiver is less responsible than the liar (other things being equal)
Notice that this assumption is necessary in Ellin's second
argument that lying is a greater wrong than trickery to get from his "the person
deceived participates in his own deception, hence is in part responsible for causing
it" to his intermediate conclusion that "the person deceived participates in his own
deception, hence is in part responsible for causing it..."
Richard Lee,
rlee@uark.edu,
last modified: 23 August 2008