Responsibility

Moral responsibility is considered one of the defining features of personhood: persons, unlike nonpersons (such as animals, objects, and possibly, some human beings) are moral agents and can be held accountable. We will look in depth at how philosophers have analyzed moral responsibility. What are the necessary conditions of moral responsibility? What role does free will play? Is moral responsibility distinguishable from the ideas of praise and blame? We will also examine attempts to expand the concept of responsibility beyond individuals by considering whether and how we share responsibility for the harms perpetrated by our communities. (Designed for junior and senior majors; open to others by waiver.)