ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to improve the semantics of responsibility based on economic ethics. The traditional concept of responsibility is threatened with erosion when responsibility is attributed to an actor who is unable to exercise individual control over the outcome of his actions. The chapter examines the problem presented by Nunner-Winkler and shows how economic ethics can reflect and improve the concept of responsibility. It deals with Nunner-Winkler's findings yet translates these into the incentive-oriented perspective of economic ethics. The chapter attempts to renew the applicability of the responsibility concept for social communication processes in modern society. It discusses the concept of ordo-responsibility as a suggested therapy. This semantic innovation extends present responsibility semantics gradually by two conceptual dimensions which open the possibility of taking responsibility for the conditions of one's own actions. The chapter discusses to what extent the concept of ordo-responsibility fulfils the claim of an orthogonal positioning.
