On Page 19, the well known scenario of Tom blaming Daisy and Gatsby for their affair is brought up. While this argument is compelling it is deficient because it fails to address situations in which double standards occur and how blameworthiness should be judged. Scanlon suggests that "hypocrisy undermines a blamer's standing to blame because in cases of hypocritical blame, it is the blamer rather than the transgressor who has impaired the relationship. Since blame marks an impairment in a relationship, the hypocritical blamer fails to mark any impairment at all, since her relationship has already been impaired in the relevant ways by her own transgressions. Her blame is therefore inaccurate" (page 20). In today's society there are countless double standards that are unjust. While men are congratulated on sleeping around, women are socially exiled and considered a whore if they do so. Does this double standard therefore justify a man who sleeps around to blame a woman who does the same thing? This emphasis on relationship impairment may work in a situation where said woman knew about the man's "habits" and then afterwards began sleeping around as well. Their relationship could already have been impaired by the woman judging the man before the man judged the woman. However this relationship impairment central idea would not work in a society where these double standards are so deeply ingrained that even women accept them. The man blaming the women in that case is still inaccurate despite the fact that he didn't already impair their relationship by previously doing the same thing. She still should not be judged by him, despite societal norms, because he has acted in a similar way.
Wallace goes on to say that "hypocrisy undermines a blamer's standing to blame because hypocritical blame essentially involves a denial of the equal moral standing of persons" (page 20). In these society where double standards are in place, people are not held to the same moral standing. In the example I gave, women have far less leniency than men in sexual exploits and are regarded differently by their actions. They are held at a different moral standard than men. In some parts of the world, even today, women are considered vastly inferior to men. Would it be hypocritical then to deny them equal moral standing, even though socially they do hold an inferior position? I would argue that neither Wallace nor Scanlon address sufficiently how society affects the judgement of hypocrisy. They need to address how significantly these norms come into the assessment of blame and if they could even eliminate situations of seemingly obvious hypocrisy.
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ReplyDeleteI think you are trying to integrate two concepts that are independent; Scanlon’s example of Tom blaming Daisy and Gatsby for having an extramarital affair seems to be removed from society’s double standards for men and women. Cheating on your spouse is considered wrong and is frowned upon in society regardless of whether you are a man or woman.
ReplyDeleteWhat Scanlon is trying to do is articulate how issues of hypocrisy are addressed by his relationship impairment system of blame. Since he regards blame as being appropriate when a transgressor has committed an act that reasonably calls for the recipient to modify their relationship, he asserts that a recipient cannot blame a transgressor if he has already committed the same act. This is because the recipient has already been the transgressor; he has already caused the modification of the relationship such that the standards and expectations of that relationship are lowered. Thus, when the later transgressor commits the act, it is no longer a violation of the terms of the relationship, thus there is no further impairment and the later transgressor is not to be blamed.
Since Tom already cheated on Daisy, their marriage had already been impaired such that the terms of their relationship allowed for cheating. When Daisy then cheated, she is not blameworthy because she did not violate the relationship, so Tom’s anger and resentment is unfounded. I don’t think it’s crazy to switch their sexes and imagine the exact same scenario; women have unprompted affairs too.
I think double standards regarding numbers of sexual partners and what sorts of reactions accompany apply to single people, not married people with very clear relationship terms, and thus I don’t see how they are relevant to this case. Your articulation of double standards is an important issue, but I don’t see how this creates any problems for the system that Scanlon has set up.