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From: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Science & Philosophy vs Babaism (Sheepish Adherence to Norms?)
Message-ID: <744@mmintl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 28-Oct-85 18:09:28 EST
Article-I.D.: mmintl.744
Posted: Mon Oct 28 18:09:28 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 22:55:13 EST
References: <1663@pyuxd.UUCP> <1820@umcp-cs.UUCP> <1907@pyuxd.UUCP> <609@spar.UUCP> <1951@pyuxd.UUCP>
Reply-To: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Organization: Multimate International, E. Hartford, CT
Lines: 40
Summary: 


In article <1951@pyuxd.UUCP> rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) writes:
>("Rosenist"???)  Responsibility has come to mean two things.  First, as
>Baba says, there is the "measure of participation in a causal chain".
>X is responsible for Y if X caused Y to happen.  But then Baba adds in
>"accountability", which really has nothing to do with THIS definition of
>responsibility.  Yet responsibility has come to mean "charged with the duty
>of accomplishing/not accomplishing something, taking the credit for 'good'
>things accomplished, and taking the blame for 'bad' things accomplished (or
>'good' things not accomplished)".  If perchance we were able to create
>a sentient machine, and we conditioned/programmed it to kill someone, would
>the machine be "responsible" for the death of the person?  NOT just in that
>first sense of "participation in a causal chain", but in the second sense
>of taking the blame for what occurred?  How can you impose blame on a
>non-self-determining entity?  Of course, you get some people who work
>backwards from a desired conclusion:  well, humans ARE self-determining
>entities, otherwise how could we blame/credit ourselves and others for the
>things that are done...

Your understanding of "responsibility" is flawed.  The primary point of
responsibility is to allocate concern for tasks beforehand, not to
allocate blame afterward.  You are responsible for doing your job because
you are (presumably) capable of doing it, and have been assigned the
responsibility for doing it (in this case, through a free market
transaction).

Similarly, all adults are responsible for obeying the law, because they
are (presumed) capable of it, and that responsibility has been assigned
to them (in this, by the law itself).  Some people are in fact not so
capable; these people are legally insane, and are restrained for everyone
else's good.

The requirements for a person to be responsible for something are threefold:
1) they must be capable of whatever they are responsible for.
2) they must have been assigned responsibility for it, in accordance with
   the social customs they live under.
3) they must be aware that it is their responsibility.
None of this says anything about whether the person is self-determined.

Frank Adams                           ihpn4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
Multimate International    52 Oakland Ave North    E. Hartford, CT 06108