Blame

What is blame? The concept is different from mere causal responsibility, as 'blame' seems to imply a personal element (e.g. "I blame you"). The philosophy of blame is of concern primarily because philosophy is a field of interaction (i.e. a significant number of issues deal with external relations, interconnectivity, and ethics). The discussion of blame can be generally split into ‘Where, what, and when should we blame?’ and ‘Should we blame?’. To tackle the first question, agency (meaning: relating to an agent, or a person) is often considered a prerequisite for responsibility and thus blameworthiness. For example, the shifting of the tectonic plates are the cause for earthquakes, but are the tectonic plates, being oft considered without agency, blameworthy? So not only where, but to what do we assign blame? Further, the timing of blame is significant in that it has been suggested that the placing of blame is a reactionary/emotional response, while others state that blame is a simple moral/rational statement. In defense of the first view, we may rationally hold an individual responsible for an event, but we cannot hold a personal sort of blame without an emotional element (where some private offence has been taken). On the other hand, blame could just simplify down into two criteria: 1. They have agency 2. They are actually responsible for the event (for example: we might say that we blame Gavrilo Princip for the start of WW1, even perhaps without any personal offense to his actions). Next off, should blame even be assigned? The debate of free will/determinism is critical in answering this question (as well as ones about responsibility); but even apart from that, we may hold someone merely causally responsible, but it is plausible that they need to have had some sort of malicious intent for a blame-placing to be held. Lastly, can anyone ever be “un-blamed”? Maybe after an apology? In the end, it could be said that each case of blame is different (psychologically and philosophically), and we should examine the cases and motivations of blame-placing individually instead of generalizing. Further, it may end up being a mere language difference in how the word is used - and philosophers over-analyze it.