9/6/2023 0 Comments Sins of our fathersKen agrees that a person should be responsible if he or she somehow, albeit inadvertently, causes a certain harmful action. Larry opines that the degree of responsibility lessens as closeness to the act decreases. Larry brings up the interconnectedness of human lives and how this results in our facilitation of the actions of others in ways that make us responsible for them the indirect role played is crucial, with the main question being whether a person who is indirectly responsible for a crime has the same degree of responsibility as a person who is directly responsible. John asks Larry to explain one of the principles that determine to what extent we can legitimately feel responsible for another’s actions. Larry explains that his interest goes back to his teenage years, when the Vietnam War was taking place and he felt ashamed for the actions of his country, which was rather unlike him at the time. John asks Larry what sparked his interest in the topic of moral taint and collective responsibility. Ken and John are joined by guest Larry May, Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and author of Sharing Responsibility. Ken and John then talk about the role that shame plays in the notion of guilt by association and briefly discuss slavery and the controversy over reparations, which is looked at more in depth in the Roving Philosophical Reporter. John then gives another example, but Ken argues that these are special cases and that the core of the matter is that a person cannot and should not be held responsible for actions other than their own. He gives the example of underage driving resulting in a crash – in such a case, it is the parent who will be held liable. After all, he says, it was Adam and Eve who ate the apple – why should God hold the rest of humanity responsible for what was not our fault? John points out that it is not only the Bible that dictates this sort of association, it is also the law. Just look at the actions of Adam and Eve and their consequences on us! Ken, however, is not so convinced. We can be tainted by the sins of our fathers, opens John.
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