Diotima: The Marist Undergraduate Philosophy Journal
AGENT-REGRET AND REGRET CONSEQUENTIALISM Harry Honig
University of Massachusetts -Amherst
Abstract
What is regret, and why should we care about it? In this paper, I will explore some
interesting philosophical puzzles related to the nature of agent-regret. My paper
has three main aims. First, I will explain what it means for an emotion to be
rational. Second, I will consider when agent-regret, in particular, is rational. I will
argue that only the outcomes of decisions – rather than the deliberation process
involved in them – are relevant to whether regret is rational. Third, and more
broadly, I will defend a distinction between two types of emotions: consequentialist
emotions, i.e., emotions that focus on outcomes, and deontological emotions, i.e.,
emotions that focus instead on the causal pathways for how something is brought
about. I will argue that agent-regret is a consequentialist emotion, and that this
distinction can be useful for providing a richer and more in-depth account of the
nature of emotions.
Volume VI (2023)
37
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