Promises to Unidentified Individuals
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RIS BIB ENDNOTEPromises to Unidentified Individuals
Publication date: 19.12.2018
Principia, 2018, Volume 65, pp. 91 - 111
https://doi.org/10.4467/20843887PI.18.004.9887Authors
Promises to Unidentified Individuals
Promises to Unidentified Individuals
Summary
Is it possible to make a binding promise to an unidentified individual, i.e. an individual whose identity is unknown to a promisor? The answer to this question seems to be negative, regardless of the philosophical theory of promises one decides to adopt. Particular autonomy theories consider promises to be one of the tools for enhancing morally valuable relationships through recognizing another party's particular personality, which enables individuals to live a better life. The generic autonomy theories consider promises to be a tool facilitating cooperation between strangers. The utilitarian theories consider the practice of promising to be a tool for increasing social welfare. The premises of each of these theories seem to rule out the possibility of promises to unidentified individuals. Accordingly, reflections on this topic may some shed light on some problems related to the issue of the identifiability effect, which is widely discussed in the psychological literature.
Keywords: promise, identified, statistical, identifiability effect, autonomy
The research on this article was funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland, National Program for the Development of Humanities, no. 0068/NPRH4/H2b/83/2016.
Obietnice składane osobom niezidentyfikowanym
Streszczenie
Czy możliwe jest złożenie wiążącej obietnicy osobie niezidentyfikowanej, to jest osobie, której tożsamość jest składającemu obietnicę nieznana? Odpowiedź na to pytanie wydaje się negatywna, niezależnie od tego, jaką filozoficzną teorię obietnic wyznajemy. Teorie autonomii partykularnej uznają obietnice za jeden ze sposobów nawiązywania moralnie wartościowych relacji poprzez wzajemne rozpoznawanie się autonomicznych i unikalnych podmiotów, co pozwala na prowadzenie lepszego życia. Zwolennicy teorii autonomii uniwersalnej uznają obietnice za narzędzie pozwalające na współpracę pomiędzy obcymi jednostkami. Teorie utylitarystyczne uznają praktykę obiecywania za jeden z instrumentów przyczyniających się do zwiększenia dobrobytu społecznego. Założenia każdej z tych teorii zdają się wykluczać możliwość złożenia skutecznej obietnicy osobie niezidentyfikowanej. Rozważania nad tytułową kwestią mogą również przyczynić się do wyjaśnienia pewnych problemów związanych z szeroko dyskutowanym w literaturze psychologicznej efektem identyfikowalności.
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Information: Principia, 2018, Volume 65, pp. 91 - 111
Article type: Original article
Titles:
Promises to Unidentified Individuals
Promises to Unidentified Individuals
Department of Law European, University Institute in Florence
Published at: 19.12.2018
Article status: Open
Licence: CC BY-NC-ND
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English