Philosopher Paddy McQueen provides a detailed examination of the nature of regret and its role in decision-making. Additionally, he explores how experiences of regret are shaped by social discourses, especially those about gender and parenthood.

Paddy McQueen is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Swansea University. Prior to that, he was a lecturer at Queen's University Belfast and an Irish Research Council post-doctoral researcher at University College Dublin. In addition to various journal articles, he has written three books, the most recent of which is entitled Critical Phenomenology: An Introduction, co-authored with Elisa Magrì (Polity, 2022).

• Introduction


• Part One: The Philosophy of Regret


• Chapter One: Making Sense of Regret


• 1.1. Introduction


• 1.2. How To Develop an Account of Regret


• 1.3. What Regret Is (And What It Is Not)


• 1.4. The Psychology of Regret


• 1.5. Are There "Types" Of Regret?


• 1.6. The Rational and Intelligible Limits of Regret


• Chapter Two: On The "Fittingness" Of Regret


• 2.1. Introduction


• 2.2. The Moralistic Fallacy


• 2.3. The "Shape" And "Size" Of Regret


• 2.4. Is It Always Unreasonable to Regret?


• Chapter Three: Reasons, Mistakes and Justified Decisions


• 3.1. Introduction


• 3.2. Practical Identity and Decision-Justification


• 3.3. "Epistemically Available" Reasons


• 3.4. Perspective-Dependent and Perspective-Independent Reasons


• 3.5. Retrospective Justification


• 3.6. Reasons And Time


• 3.7. Self-Transformations


• 3.8. Akrasia And Regret


• Chapter Four: Regret, Agency and Responsibility


• 4.1. Introduction


• 4.2. Regret And the Scope of Responsibility


• 4.3. Against Williams's "Agent-Regret"


• 4.4. Description, Intention and The Framing of Responsibility


• 4.5. Accidents, Apologies and Interpersonal Relations


• Chapter Five: Regret, Valuing and Virtue


• 5.1. Introduction


• 5.2. Regret, Attachment and Affirmation


• 5.3. Assessing Wallace's Account


• 5.4. Regret And Unrealized Values


• 5.5. Conflicts Of Value and Tragic Choices


• Coda: Aristotle and Stoicism


• Part Two: The Politics of Regret


• Chapter Six: The Social Structuring of Regret


• 6.1. Introduction


• 6.2. The Cultural Politics of Emotion


• 6.3. The Social Contours of Regret


• 6.4. Pro-Natalism and Regret


• 6.5. Regretting Motherhood


• Chapter Seven: Voluntary Sterilisation and Regret


• 7.1. Introduction


• 7.2. Unsuccessful Sterilisation Requests


• 7.3. Autonomy And Medical Paternalism


• 7.4. Sterilisation, Well-Being and Informed Consent


• 7.5. Permanency, Commitment and Choice


• 7.6. Credibility, Identity and Epistemic Injustice


• Chapter Eight: Abortion and Regret


• 8.1. Introduction


• 8.2. The Politicisation of Abortion Regret


• 8.3. The Rise to Prominence of Abortion Regret


• 8.4. Ripple Effects


• 8.5. The Normative Force of Abortion Regret


• Chapter Nine: Trans Regret


• 9.1. Introduction


• 9.2. A Note on Terminology


• 9.3. The Purported "Problem" Of Trans Regret


• 9.4. Personally Transformative Treatment


• 9.5. Trans Regret and The Authentic Self


• Chapter Ten: Living with And Without Regret


• 10.1. Introduction


• 10.2. Refusing To Regret


• 10.3. The Waxing and Waning of Regret


• 10.4. Self-Forgiveness and Regret


• 10.5. Looking To the Future


• 10.6. Regulating Regret


• Bibliography


• Index