ABSTRACT
Interestingly, the word "responsibility" is fairly new to the history of philosophy. The oldest confirmed use of the term in English is from 1642, but it existed in French in the fifteenth century. Responsibility became an important concept in a political context when representative governments emerged in Europe towards the end of the eighteenth century. Aristotle, who is often mentioned in philosophical texts about responsibility, wrote primarily about responsibility, without using this term, as blameworthiness. Compatibilists find different ways to argue that we can still reasonably ascribe responsibility to individuals. The concept of responsibility in the discussion of free will and determinism focuses on the relationship of moral agency and capacity to responsibility as blameworthiness. Causal responsibility is so closely attached to the concept of moral responsibility that it is sometimes difficult to detach the two. Young has presented a similar conception of responsibility: the social connection model of responsibility.
