Description
Philosopher Paddy McQueen provides a detailed examination of the nature of regret and its role in decision-making. Contrary to influential philosophical accounts of regret, he argues that we should only regret choices we make that were not justified at the time, based on the information that was available to us. Consequently, he suggests that many of us should have fewer regrets than we do, and we should worry less than we do about whether we might come to regret a decision. In making this case, he engages with important areas of philosophical debate, such as reasons, time and justification, the temporal self, values and valuing, responsibility, the causal framing of events, and self-forgiveness. The result is a complex, novel account of when we should regret the things that we do. In addition, McQueen explores how experiences of regret are shaped by social discourses, especially those about gender and parenthood. He examines how regret has become politicized in debates about abortion and trans identities and reveals ways in which regret is used to regulate people's reproductive choices. Through this cultural politics of regret, he challenges assumptions about gender identities and the expectations of regret that are attached to certain people's decisions. In so doing, he shows how confronting these assumptions and expectations can help to promote people's autonomy and well-being. Weaving these threads together, McQueen highlights the personal and political significance of regret.
Table of Contents
IntroductionPart One: The Philosophy of RegretChapter One: Making Sense of Regret1.1. Introduction1.2. How To Develop an Account of Regret1.3. What Regret Is (And What It Is Not)1.4. The Psychology of Regret1.5. Are There ?Types? Of Regret?1.6. The Rational and Intelligible Limits of RegretChapter Two: On The ?Fittingness? Of Regret2.1. Introduction2.2. The Moralistic Fallacy2.3. The ?Shape? And ?Size? Of Regret2.4. Is It Always Unreasonable to Regret?Chapter Three: Reasons, Mistakes and Justified Decisions3.1. Introduction3.2. Practical Identity and Decision-Justification3.3. ?Epistemically Available? Reasons3.4. Perspective-Dependent and Perspective-Independent Reasons3.5. Retrospective Justification3.6. Reasons And Time3.7. Self-Transformations3.8. Akrasia And RegretChapter Four: Regret, Agency and Responsibility4.1. Introduction4.2. Regret And the Scope of Responsibility4.3. Against Williams's ?Agent-Regret?4.4. Description, Intention and The Framing of Responsibility4.5. Accidents, Apologies and Interpersonal RelationsChapter Five: Regret, Valuing and Virtue5.1. Introduction5.2. Regret, Attachment and Affirmation5.3. Assessing Wallace's Account5.4. Regret And Unrealized Values5.5. Conflicts Of Value and Tragic ChoicesCoda: Aristotle and StoicismPart Two: The Politics of RegretChapter Six: The Social Structuring of Regret6.1. Introduction6.2. The Cultural Politics of Emotion6.3. The Social Contours of Regret6.4. Pro-Natalism and Regret6.5. Regretting MotherhoodChapter Seven: Voluntary Sterilisation and Regret7.1. Introduction7.2. Unsuccessful Sterilisation Requests7.3. Autonomy And Medical Paternalism7.4. Sterilisation, Well-Being and Informed Consent7.5. Permanency, Commitment and Choice7.6. Credibility, Identity and Epistemic InjusticeChapter Eight: Abortion and Regret8.1. Introduction8.2. The Politicisation of Abortion Regret8.3. The Rise to Prominence of Abortion Regret8.4. Ripple Effects8.5. The Normative Force of Abortion RegretChapter Nine: Trans Regret9.1. Introduction9.2. A Note on Terminology9.3. The Purported ?Problem? Of Trans Regret9.4. Personally Transformative Treatment9.5. Trans Regret and The Authentic SelfChapter Ten: Living with And Without Regret10.1. Introduction10.2. Refusing To Regret10.3. The Waxing and Waning of Regret10.4. Self-Forgiveness and Regret10.5. Looking To the Future10.6. Regulating RegretBibliographyIndex
