Understanding Responsibility: Legal, Moral, and Societal Dimensions
What It Means to Be Responsible
Responsibility, in its various forms, defines our accountability for actions and their consequences:
- Legal Responsibility:
- Historically, it meant “to answer,” i.e., the defense of something in a trial or the justification for an action that has been called into question.
- Subsequently, also in the legal field, it was established that when someone causes harm to another, they must assume the repair of damages or an equivalent (fines, imprisonment, etc.) as legally established.
- Moral Responsibility:
- Moral responsibility, however, is not a legal phenomenon, but a subjective one of moral conscience. That is, the doer is the one who feels responsible for their action, with their own consciousness as the sole tribunal.
- For this reason, punishment for morally bad behavior does not come from external sources (judges, police, etc.) but from within the person, as feelings of disapproval we call remorse.
- To be morally responsible for an action means: The actor has performed the act freely, meaning they could have chosen not to do it or to do it differently. This is fundamental, because it makes no sense to blame someone for an act they committed without the freedom to avoid it. That is, freedom and responsibility are two sides of a coin because we are only responsible for what we do freely, but at the same time we are responsible for everything we do with freedom.
- The actor is capable of responding for their action, giving reasons and motives for acting as they did.
- The act bears the consequences, for better or worse, resulting from the action performed.
Ethics of Conviction vs. Ethics of Responsibility (Max Weber)
Max Weber distinguished between the ethics of conviction and ethics of responsibility:
- The ethics of conviction is followed by a person who strives to act according to principles and good moral values, but may disregard the potential consequences of their actions, thus not considering themselves responsible for those outcomes.
- The ethics of responsibility, however, places all emphasis on the likely consequences of an action, relegating the inspiring principles or values to the background. In this case, the person assumes responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
Weber considered these two forms to be opposite yet complementary when acting morally. This is because neither the ethics of conviction can completely ignore the consequences of actions (which could lead to intolerance), nor can the ethics of responsibility entirely disregard the principles and values that motivate us to act (which could lead to unscrupulous behavior).
Responsibility in the Modern World
The Principle of Responsibility
As a result of scientific and technical development, the problems we face today require the cooperation and responsibility of all countries (e.g., pollution, global warming). This has generated a new type of awareness called planetary consciousness.
Philosophers like Karl-Otto Apel and Hans Jonas argue that the idea of progress upon which our civilization is built—exploiting the planet’s resources to satisfy our desire for welfare—ultimately entails the destruction of Earth. Therefore, these philosophers advocate for the necessity of changing our idea of progress and to responsibly assume the consequences of our actions, aiming to leave future generations a world at least as habitable as our own.
Responsible Citizens
A responsible citizen is one who does not merely demand their rights but participates actively and responsibly in matters that affect everyone. The ideal our society aspires to is the cosmopolitan citizen: a person who, regardless of their specific living conditions (nationality, language, race, etc.), shows solidarity with the problems of humanity.
Professional Responsibility
Professional responsibility involves identifying the internal goods of every profession—that is, what practitioners of various branches offer to society—thereby leading to professional ethics. This entails establishing the values and habits that professionals must acquire. The ultimate goal is to achieve excellence, meaning every professional must apply all their capabilities to perfectly realize their work.