Value in the Guise of Regret

According to a widely accepted philosophical model, agent-regret is practically significant and appropriate when the agent committed a mistake, or she faced a conflict of obligations. It is argued that this account misunderstands moral phenomenology because does not adequately characterize the object of agent-regret. The object of agent-regret should be defined in terms of valuable unchosen alternatives supported by reasons. The proposed model captures the phenomenological varieties of regret and explains its practical significance for the agent. It shows that agent-regret is a mode of valuing: a way in which the agent expresses and confers value.