1 / 15

Christopher Dreisbach, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University

Constitution, Society, and Leadership Week 9 Unit 3 Concepts of Justice: Responsibility in General. Christopher Dreisbach, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University. Responsibility in General- i Unit Overview- i. Retributive Justice usually involves Someone who has done wrong

Download Presentation

Christopher Dreisbach, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Constitution, Society, and LeadershipWeek 9 Unit 3Concepts of Justice:Responsibility in General Christopher Dreisbach, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University

  2. Responsibility in General-iUnit Overview-i • Retributive Justice usually involves • Someone who has done wrong • Some legal action to right that wrong • Usually to say someone has done wrong in a way that calls for retributive justice • Is to say that person was responsible for the wrong that he or she did • But what does responsibility mean in this case?

  3. Responsibility in General-iiUnit Overview-ii • This unit looks at three answers to that question • H. L. Hart and A. M. Honoré, Causation and Responsibility • Joel Feinberg, Action and Responsibility • Tony Honoré, Responsibility and Luck: The Moral Basis of Strict Liability

  4. Responsibility in General-iiiHart and Honoré-i • Point: “A person caused harm” is a vague concept • Moral responsibility usually means • Directly caused • Caused by neglect • Caused by influence over another

  5. Responsibility in General-ivHart and Honoré-ii • Legal responsibility usually also includes • Vicarious liability • Strict liability • Therefore, the legal view of responsibility is wider than the moral view • With moral grounds being one subset of possible reasons for finding someone legally responsible

  6. Responsibility in General-vFeinberg-i • Point: No clear answer to the debate: full-fledged human action v. mere bodily movement • But some considerations worth noting • Defeasible v. nondefeasible claims • Defeasible=legal claims that could be defeated • A prima facie case • “Can be established by sufficient evidence” • “Can be overthron only by rebutting evidence”

  7. Responsibility in General-viFeinberg-ii • “The notion of defeasibility is inextricably tied up with an adversary system of litigation and its complex rules governing the sufficiency and insufficiency of legal claims…” • An excuse or a justification can be defeating • Nondefeasible, e.g.: He drove dangerously, he dropped the ball, he spoke falsely • Vs. he drove recklessly, he fumbled the ball, he lied • These claims can be defeated

  8. Responsibility in General-viiFeinberg-iii • “The distinct feature of the defeasible ascriptions is that they express a blame over and beyond the mere defectiveness of the ascribed action” • Three types of defeasible faults • Defective skill/ability, e.g., “fumble” • Defective/improper care, e.g., negligence • Improper intention, e.g., lying

  9. Responsibility in General-viiiFeinberg-iv • Three stages in response to a faulty performance • Note defective act • Charge with defeasible act • Record and put to use, e.g., ascription of liability

  10. Responsibility in General-ixFeinberg-v • Five possible meanings of ascription of responsibility • “Straightforward ascriptions of causality” • E.g., Peter opened the door • “Ascription of causal agency” • E.g., Peter opened the door, causing Paul to jump • “Ascription of single agency” • E.g., Peter’s finger moved

  11. Responsibility in General-xFeinberg-vi • Imputations of fault • E.g., Peter is the only one to blame • Ascription of liability • E.g., Peter will take the hit regardless of who did it • Ascription v. Description • Answer: Jones did it • Ascriptive: Who did it? • Descriptive: What did Jones do?

  12. Responsibility in General-xiHonoré-i • Point: “being responsible in law and in ordinary life is not the same as being at fault or to blame” • The Argument • An objective standard of competence • Not based wholly on fault • But a form of strict liability • “To justify strict liability we must first show why people should sometimes bear the risk of bad luck” • E.g., stupid or clumsy

  13. Responsibility in General-xiiHonoré-ii • Outcome responsibility: “To bear the risk of bad luck is inherent in the basic form of responsibility in any society” • O.R.=“Being responsible for the good and harm we bring about by what we do” • Involves “a series of bets on our choices and their outcomes • O.R. is “inescapable because it is the counterpart of our personal identity and character” • Being a person entails O.R. • O.R. is more foundational than moral or legal responsibility

  14. Responsibility in General-xiiiHonoré-iii • O.R. “can fairly be imposed only on those who possess a general capacity for decision and action • Fault: One “must have besides a general capacity for decision and action, the ability to succeed most of the time in doing the sort of thing that would on that occasion have averted the harm” • Strict liability: one must simply have the general capacity • “Attaches to us by virtue of our conduct and its outcome alone, irrespective of fault”

  15. Week 9 Unit 3 Concepts of Justice: Responsibility in General Constitution, Society, and Leadership

More Related