Culpability for Moral Ignorance

This chapter argues that moral ignorance implies lack of care of morally relevant considerations as predicted by quality-of-will theories of responsibility, and thus moral ignorance, as opposed to circumstantial ignorance, does not excuse wrongdoing. A new attributionist framework for responsibility for attitudes is presented and supplemented with empirical studies on selective attention to explain the connection between caring and belief formation. The framework is then used to shed light on putative counterexamples to culpable moral ignorance by introducing attentional priority structures that help to distinguish between genuine lack of care as a moral mistake, and nonculpable carelessness that undermines something the agent actually cares about. The chapter ends with a definition of adequate caring and a response to the objection from moral heroism.