"In philosophy, moral responsibility is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission in accordance with one's moral obligations."
The idea that individuals are accountable for their actions and can be held morally responsible for the consequences of those actions.
Utilitarianism: A moral theory that evaluates the rightness or wrongness of an action based on its overall consequences for the greatest number of people.
Deontology: A moral theory that evaluates the rightness or wrongness of an action based on whether it follows a set of moral rules or principles.
Virtue ethics: A moral theory that evaluates the rightness or wrongness of an action based on the ethical character of the person performing it.
Determinism: The idea that all events, including human actions, are ultimately determined by external causes and are not free choices.
Free will: The belief that human beings have the ability to make choices that are not predetermined and are up to their own volition.
Moral luck: The concept that moral responsibility is affected by outside factors such as luck or chance.
Consequentialism: A moral theory that evaluates the rightness or wrongness of an action based on its consequences.
Kantian ethics: A moral theory that evaluates the rightness or wrongness of an action based on whether it could be willed into a universal law.
Legal responsibility: The concept of holding individuals accountable for their actions within the framework of the law.
Collective responsibility: The idea that groups or organizations can be held responsible for the actions of their members.
Just war theory: A moral theory that evaluates the morality of war and the use of military force.
Retributive justice: The notion that punishment should be proportionate to the harm caused by an offense.
Procedural justice: A theory that emphasizes the importance of a fair process in determining moral responsibility.
Moral agency: The capacity of an individual to make moral choices and be held responsible for them.
Moral responsibility and mental illness: A topic that examines the relationship between moral responsibility and mental illness, and the extent to which individuals suffering from mental illness can be held accountable for their actions.
Standard Trolley Problem: A trolley is hurtling towards a group of people who will be killed if it's not stopped. You can redirect the trolley onto another track, where only one person is standing. Do you pull the lever, causing the death of one person to save the others?.
Fat Man variant: This scenario is similar to the standard Trolley Problem, but instead of redirecting the trolley, you have to push a fat man onto the track to stop the trolley. Would you sacrifice one person to save many others?.
Switchman's dilemma: The switchman can divert the train from a track with one person on it to a track with five people on it, or he can leave it on its current path. What should he do?.
Loop variant: In this scenario, a trolley is headed toward a loop in the track. If it continues on its current course, it will kill five people on the loop. If you flip a switch, it will divert onto another track where it will kill one person. What do you do?.
Unavoidable harm variant: In this variant, there is no lever to pull or switch to divert the trolley. You are the driver of the trolley, and the brakes have failed. You can either continue on your current path and kill five people, or you can veer off the track and kill one person. What do you do?.
Remote control variant: You are watching the trolley from a remote location and have the ability to change its course remotely. Should you do so to save the five people on one track by sending the trolley to the other track where it will kill one person?.
"Philosophers refer to people who have moral responsibility for an action as 'moral agents'."
"Agents have the capability to reflect upon their situation, to form intentions about how they will act, and then to carry out that action."
"The notion of free will has become an important issue in the debate on whether individuals are ever morally responsible for their actions and, if so, in what sense."
"Incompatibilists regard determinism as at odds with free will."
"Compatibilists think the two can coexist."
"Moral responsibility does not necessarily equate to legal responsibility."
"A person is legally responsible for an event when a legal system is liable to penalize that person for that event."
"The two states do not always coincide."
"Preferential promoters of the concept of personal responsibility (or some popularization thereof) may include parents, managers, politicians, technocrats, large-group awareness trainings (LGATs), and religious groups."
"Some see individual responsibility as an important component of neoliberalism."
"Deciding what (if anything) counts as 'morally obligatory' is a principal concern of ethics."
"Moral responsibility is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission in accordance with one's moral obligations."
"Agents have the capability to reflect upon their situation, to form intentions about how they will act, and then to carry out that action."
"Moral responsibility is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission."
"The notion of free will has become an important issue in the debate on whether individuals are ever morally responsible for their actions and, if so, in what sense."
"Incompatibilists regard determinism as at odds with free will."
"Compatibilists think the two can coexist."
"Moral responsibility does not necessarily equate to legal responsibility."
"A person is legally responsible for an event when a legal system is liable to penalize that person for that event."