ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author argues that it is the beneficiary's vulnerability rather than any voluntary commitment as such on the part of the benefactor that generates these special responsibilities. This analysis provides an argument for broader notions of responsibility, because there are many more agents vulnerable to the reader than to whom the people have made commitments, in any sense. The raison d'etre of the welfare state clearly is to discharge in part the responsibility the author have been discussing, namely, to protect vulnerable members of society. The principal challenge facing any defense of the welfare state must surely be to show why protecting these vulnerable people should be a collective rather than an individual responsibility. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate that the people have a broader range of social responsibilities than they traditionally acknowledge. It is obviously immoral to hold people in an unnecessarily dependent status against their will.
