On the Necessity of Referral to t he Category "Randomity" In the Process of Moral Assessment of Individual's Acts

Abstract

In the article, firstly through the analysis of the history of ethical teachings, the basic requirements for the procedure of moral assessment, for its subject (the legitimacy of this assessment) and the object (taking into account the consequences of the act, their motives, as well as the ratio of the goal and the means used to achieve it) are identified. Consideration of a particular deed taking into account all these aspects, it would seem, allows us to make its moral assessment objective, impartial, fair. However, secondly (and most importantly!), we substantiate the thesis that if this consideration is not supplemented with the category of randomity (moreover, interpreted as aclinamen), then the resulting assessment will itself be morally problematic, giving rise to moral complacency and depriving us the opportunity to help a morally stumbled person.