ABSTRACT

How and to what degree are we responsible for our characters, our lives, our misfortunes, our relationships and our children? This question is at the heart of "Moral Responsibility". The book explores accusations and denials of moral responsibility for particular acts, responsibility for character, and the role of luck and fate in ethics. Moral responsibility as the grounds for a retributivist theory of punishment is examined, alongside discussions of forgiveness, parental responsibility, and responsibility before God. The book also discusses collective responsibility, bringing in notions of complicity and membership, and drawing on the seminal contemporary discussion of collective agency and responsibility: the Nuremberg trials.

chapter |20 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|23 pages

Defining Retrospective Responsibility

chapter 2|20 pages

Responsibility for Mistakes

chapter 3|26 pages

Apology and Forgiveness

chapter 4|22 pages

Punishment

chapter 5|22 pages

Moral Luck

chapter 6|19 pages

Role-Responsibility

chapter 7|18 pages

Responsibility for Strangers

chapter 8|21 pages

Learning to Love

chapter |2 pages

Conclusion