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Testing the Explanation Hypothesis using Experimental Methods / Förklaringshypotesen med hypotesprövande metod

The Explanation Hypothesis is a psychological hypothesis about how people attribute moral responsibility. The hypothesis makes general claims about everyday thinking of moral responsibility and is also said to have important consequences for related philosophical issues. Since arguments in favor of the hypothesis are largely based on a number of intuitive cases, there is need to investigate whether it is supported by empirical evidence. In this study, the hypothesis was tested by means of quantitative experimental methods. The data were collected by conducting online surveys in which participants were introduced to a number of different scenarios. For each scenario, questions about moral responsibility were asked. Results provide general support for the Explanation Hypothesis and there are therefore more reasons to take its proposed consequences seriously.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-57308
Date January 2010
CreatorsJohansson, Erik
PublisherLinköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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