Moral Responsibility
MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
Moral responsibility is directed not only at judgments concerning right or wrong. Sometimes, they are directed at determining whether a person or organization is morally responsible for having done something wrong.
Here we are discussing ‘Moral Responsibilty’ as a term which is used to express that a person is to blame for an action. A person is morally responsible only for those acts and their foreseen injurious effects which the person knowingly and freely performed or brought about and which was morally wrong for the person to perform or bring about; or, which the person knowingly and freely failed to perform or prevent and which it was morally wrong for the person to fail to perform or prevent.
A person is morally responsible for an injury or wrong if these qualifications are met:
1. the person caused or helped cause it, or failed to prevent it only when he could & should have;
2. the person did so knowing what he was doing;
3. the person did so on his own free will.
The absence of any of these three above elements will completely eliminate a person’s responsibility for an injury and so will fully “excuse” a person from any blame for the injury.
The important points are: a. The person was not forced to do it (done willingly). b. The person had a choice. c. The person knew what he was doing (done knowingly). d. The person did the act deliberately (done intentionally).
The person can also be morally responsible for failing to do what he was obliged to do. Here, too, the person’s failure must be intentional.
I. A PERSON IS MORALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR AN INJURY OR WRONG IF THE PERSON CAUSED OR HELPED CAUSED IT, OR FAILED TO PREVENT IT ONLY WHEN HE COULD AND SHOULD HAVE. - This qualification is necessary because the people cannot be held morally responsible for all the injuries they know about
Moral responsibility is directed not only at judgments concerning right or wrong. Sometimes, they are directed at determining whether a person or organization is morally responsible for having done something wrong.
Here we are discussing ‘Moral Responsibilty’ as a term which is used to express that a person is to blame for an action. A person is morally responsible only for those acts and their foreseen injurious effects which the person knowingly and freely performed or brought about and which was morally wrong for the person to perform or bring about; or, which the person knowingly and freely failed to perform or prevent and which it was morally wrong for the person to fail to perform or prevent.
A person is morally responsible for an injury or wrong if these qualifications are met:
1. the person caused or helped cause it, or failed to prevent it only when he could & should have;
2. the person did so knowing what he was doing;
3. the person did so on his own free will.
The absence of any of these three above elements will completely eliminate a person’s responsibility for an injury and so will fully “excuse” a person from any blame for the injury.
The important points are: a. The person was not forced to do it (done willingly). b. The person had a choice. c. The person knew what he was doing (done knowingly). d. The person did the act deliberately (done intentionally).
The person can also be morally responsible for failing to do what he was obliged to do. Here, too, the person’s failure must be intentional.
I. A PERSON IS MORALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR AN INJURY OR WRONG IF THE PERSON CAUSED OR HELPED CAUSED IT, OR FAILED TO PREVENT IT ONLY WHEN HE COULD AND SHOULD HAVE. - This qualification is necessary because the people cannot be held morally responsible for all the injuries they know about