Social Functions of Knowledge Attributions

Drawing upon work in experimental philosophy and evolutionary game theory, the chapter argues that one of the roles the concept of knowledge plays in our social cognitive ecology is that of enabling us to make adaptively important distinctions between different kinds of blameworthy and blameless behaviors. In particular, the chapter defends the view that knowledge enables us to distinguish which agents are most worthy of blame for inflicting harms, violating social norms, or cheating in situations of social exchange.