ABSTRACT
Demands and criticism in the abstract sense either support a principle about blameworthiness rather than Ought Implies Can (OIC), or else depend on Unfair Demands – a claim there’s good reason to believe to be false. This chapter looks at fairness, and action-guidingness and inference to the best explanation. There are three main motivations for adopting OIC. First is fairness, the idea that morality should be fair, and that OIC is one thing that keeps it that way. Second is action-guidingness, the idea that morality must guide action and that OIC ensures that it does so. Third and finally is what we could call inference to the best explanation. The idea is that OIC is an essential part of the best explanation for certain patterns in moral thinking. The idea that a moral system could be disqualified for being too demanding is an influential objection to consequentialism.
