ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys a broad variety of scenarios in which people who may claim to be mere bystanders to cases of wrongdoing, harm, and danger nevertheless share in some form of responsibility with respect to the events they witness. Cases are divided into three rough, non-exclusive categories: (a) shared responsibility for wrongs and harms; (b) shared responsibility to provide aid, particularly by joining groups that aim to do good; and (c) shared responsibility to enforce moral norms, particularly by joining in group actions such as boycotts and online naming-and-shaming campaigns. While much of this discussion explains and justifies the moral slogan, “don’t be a bystander,” it also points out why, in some cases, there may be stronger reason to remain on the sidelines.
