Sharing Responsibility

by Larry May

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226511696
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	06/01/1996
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: Social Existentialism
2: Shared Attitudes
3: Omissions and Responsibility in Groups
4: Communities and Shared Values
Pt. 1: Attitudes, Agency, and Responsibility
1: Existentialism, Self, and Voluntariness
1: Responsibility and Agency
2: Existentialism and the Self
3: An Underground Movement in Ethics
4: Voluntariness and Involuntariness
2: Shared Responsibility and Racist Attitudes
1: The Concept of Shared Responsibility
2: Joint Ventures and Conspiracies
3: Omissions and Risks
4: Racist Attitudes and Risks
5: Agency and Attitudes
3: Insensitivity and Moral Responsibility
1: The Concept of Sensitivity
2: Sense and Sensitivity
3: Insensitivity and Culpable Ignorance
4: The Influence of Stereotypes
5: Habits and One's Future Self
Pt. 2: Omission, Inaction, and Groups
4: Groups and Personal Value Transformation
1: Personal and Group Values
2: Risking Harm and Institutional Desensitization
3: Responsibility and Omission in Groups
5: Negligence and Professional Responsibility
1: Negligence and Due Care
2: Integrity and Omissions
3: Personal Guilt and Negligence
4: Moral Integrity and Professional Negligence
6: Collective Inaction and Responsibility
1: Collection Action and Collective Inaction
2: Collective Responsibility and Putative Groups
3: Sharing Responsibility for Collective Inaction
4: Practical and Ontological Objections
5: Tragedy and Inactivity
Pt. 3: Communities, Roles, and Responsibilities
7: Philosophers and Political Responsibility
1: The Philosopher as Gadfly
2: The Philosopher as Seeker of Wisdom
3: The Special Responsibilities of Philosophers
4: The Responsibilities of Philosophers as a Group
8: Metaphysical Guilt and Moral Taint
1: The Concept of Metaphysical Guilt
2: Guilt and Community Membership
3: The Case of South African Divestment
4: Expanding the Domain of Moral Responsibility
9: Role Conflicts, Community, and Shared Agency
1: Roles and Conscientiousness
2: Conflicts of Responsibility
3: Shared Agency and the Problem of Difference
4: Communitarianism and Discriminatory Traditions
Notes
Index