tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14906887.post114739298045758596..comments2023-10-20T09:27:50.697-04:00Comments on Second Glance: Final Paper of GreatnessAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078668225749387024noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14906887.post-1147576862081686602006-05-13T23:21:00.000-04:002006-05-13T23:21:00.000-04:00I think the analysis in your last undergrad paper ...I think the analysis in your last undergrad paper (congrats by the way) still applies to the gallows-exporter case. It seems to me that what you call <I>degree of causation</I> is a discrete variable that takes only two values: to sell or not to sell. According to the farmer’s own principles and values selling gallows is not sufficient to render him responsible for the executions (unfortunately). It is here where the government comes and sets a standard for legal responsibility: legally responsible in case of a sale.<BR/><BR/>What I called <I>legal responsibility</I> is nothing but what tort law denotes with the term <I>negligence</I>. Courts often have the difficult task of setting the threshold for declaring negligence, and in doing so they take into account the benefits and costs created to society as a whole -at least in theory-. Because individuals fail to internalize the costs generated to third parties (e.g., the lives of the people that have been executed), their own sense of responsibility usually falls below than what is socially optimal. Legal responsibility or negligence is one way to have them internalize the costs of their actions (or the cost of their degree of causation).<BR/><BR/>Even though I am not 100% sure, my guess is that there have got to be legal cases in which engineers have been held negligent for the effects created by their inventions.bcjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14004625647062873088noreply@blogger.com