Sharing Responsibility

by May, Larry

• ISBN13: 9780226511689
• ISBN10: 0226511685
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-01-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Are individuals responsible for the consequences of actions taken by their community? What about their community's inaction or its attitudes? In this innovative book, Larry May departs from the traditional Western view that moral responsibility is limited to the consequences of overt individual action. Drawing on the insights of Arendt, Jaspers, and Sartre, he argues that even when individuals are not direct participants, they share responsibility for various harms perpetrated by their communities.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Social Existentialism

Shared Attitudes

Omissions and Responsibility in Groups

Communities and Shared Values

Attitudes, Agency, and Responsibility

Existentialism, Self, and Voluntariness

Responsibility and Agency

Existentialism and the Self

An Underground Movement in Ethics

Voluntariness and Involuntariness

Shared Responsibility and Racist Attitudes

The Concept of Shared Responsibility

Joint Ventures and Conspiracies

Omissions and Risks

Racist Attitudes and Risks

Agency and Attitudes

Insensitivity and Moral Responsibility

The Concept of Sensitivity

Sense and Sensitivity

Insensitivity and Culpable Ignorance

The Influence of Stereotypes

Habits and One's Future Self

Omission, Inaction, and Groups

Groups and Personal Value Transformation

Personal and Group Values

Risking Harm and Institutional Desensitization

Responsibility and Omission in Groups

Negligence and Professional Responsibility

Negligence and Due Care

Integrity and Omissions

Personal Guilt and Negligence

Moral Integrity and Professional Negligence

Collective Inaction and Responsibility

Collection Action and Collective Inaction

Collective Responsibility and Putative Groups

Sharing Responsibility for Collective Inaction

Practical and Ontological Objections

Tragedy and Inactivity

Communities, Roles, and Responsibilities

Philosophers and Political Responsibility

The Philosopher as Gadfly

The Philosopher as Seeker of Wisdom

The Special Responsibilities of Philosophers

The Responsibilities of Philosophers as a Group

Metaphysical Guilt and Moral Taint

The Concept of Metaphysical Guilt

Guilt and Community Membership

The Case of South African Divestment

Expanding the Domain of Moral Responsibility

Role Conflicts, Community, and Shared Agency

Roles and Conscientiousness

Conflicts of Responsibility

Shared Agency and the Problem of Difference

Communitarianism and Discriminatory Traditions

Notes

Index

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