Agent-Regret and Regret Consequentialism
4. Future-oriented policy change: i.e., you are motivated to do things
differently next time in light of your self-criticism
In addition, guilt, on my account, is best understood as a species of self-reproach.
Specifically, guilt is a moralized version of self-reproach, since guilt involves
features (1)-(4) but also includes an additional feature: namely, (5) that it is
directed towards moral actions.
By contrast, on my view, regret is best understood as longing for or wishing
that a certain state of affairs had not happened. It also four central characteristics:
1. Cognitive judgment: i.e., that a bad outcome occurred
2. Bad feelings: i.e., negative feelings directed towards that bad outcome
3. Causal responsibility: i.e., that your decision resulted in the bad outcome,
where this may or may not have been due to merely bad luck
4. Focus on the bad outcome: i.e., you acknowledge that your decision
negatively impacts your future prospects and/or created missed
opportunities that you will not get to repeat
On my account, the main difference between regret and self-reproach is that
regret is focused on bad outcomes and the fact that your decision was causally
responsible for bringing them about. By contrast, self-reproach focuses on the fact
that you made an irrational decision, that you are criticizable for that decision,
and that you should act differently in the future. Why should one accept this
conceptual analysis? One compelling reason comes from thinking about the nature
of the opposite emotion in each case. Let us begin with self-reproach. The opposite
of feeling self-reproach, i.e., criticizing or being disappointed in yourself, seems like
it would be feeling proud of yourself. Consider the following example: I am a rock
climber. Initially, I was too scared to do any outdoor rock climbing. Over time, I
worked to get over my fear of heights by developing my climbing skills and mental
strength. Last August, I climbed White Horse Ledge, a 1,000+ foot wall in New
Hampshire. I am very proud of myself for climbing White Horse Ledge because it
reflects all the effort I put into becoming a strong rock climber. This suggests that
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