arbiter
JournalsAccount

The Normative Common Ground: Blame and Communication

Taylor Madigan & Edward N. Schwartz

Ethics: an international journal of social, political, and legal philosophy2026https://doi.org/10.1086/739653article
ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Many theories of responsibility claim that holding someone responsible is “incipiently communicative,” but it has been difficult to pin down just what this amounts to. We offer an account of (1) a distinctive sense in which blaming is communicative, (2) what is communicated, and (3) how communication is achieved. Building on the work of Miranda Fricker and others, our account is that blaming is communicative in the sense that it updates a body of mutually represented expectations—normative common ground—which happens via a process of presupposition accommodation.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/739653

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{taylor2026,
  title        = {{The Normative Common Ground: Blame and Communication}},
  author       = {Taylor Madigan & Edward N. Schwartz},
  journal      = {Ethics: an international journal of social, political, and legal philosophy},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/739653},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The Normative Common Ground: Blame and Communication

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.