What difference does responsibility make?

Not responsible… and why should we be?

Taking responsibility is easier said than done ….it doesn’t come naturally!

“We aren’t in a position to do whatever we want, yet we are held responsible, for who we are” (Jean Paul Sartre)

Be it from civil society, the associative or corporative sectors or on an individual level, calls for increased social responsibility abound. Yet, change produces opposition no matter what, and developing new attitudes and behaviours, individually and collectively, towards responsibility is no different.

More over, contradictions arise from the disparity that exists between our projected goals and the very real systemic obstacles to their implementation, making it all the more difficult to believe that there is any point in becoming social involved.

It’s time to openly talk about how we experience the resistance and obstacles to responsibility?

The question of responsibility has a way of turning into a simplistic life view dividing everything into a reassuring polarity of “Right or Wrong!” This triggers a host of disingenuous moralistic tendencies, proffering guilt and blame on whoever is seen as not living up to their obligations.

More often than not, even the subtlest condemnations are made subjectively, with little or no consideration for the circumstances in which choices are worked out.

For instance, can we honestly contend that shopping ‘organic or equitable’ is available to all? Does this make people living on fixed or low-incomes, who cannot afford this choice, irresponsible? Of course not! The case of Wal-Mart, which goes beyond the issue of organic vs. non organic; reveals just how important it is to deal with the contradictions inherent to the question of social responsibility.Wal-Mart

Our Challenge? Turning ‘Responsibily’ into a strategy that leads to actions linking us together, in order to better tackle the obstacles and provide alternatives.

What difference does responsibility make?

Responsibility is no longer a moral principle exclusively anchored in its religious past, it has become a secular principle, understood and applied as a moral (ethical) principle connected to the values of civic society! 1

To be moral (ethical) today is much less a matter linked, as in the past, to sinfulness or guilt…” someone who is preoccupied with the neighbours conduct is moralizing…not moral (ethical)”. 2

There is a difference between moral (ethical) and moralizing…” Morality answers the question ‘What should I do?’: It’s all about my duties… ( those)… which I consider justified… It’s the rules of conduct that I impose or should impose on myself… independently of what others think and of any likely punishment or reward. ‘What should I be doing? Not: What should the others be doing” That what differentiates moral from moralizing. [3] radio-canada.ca

How do we reconcile, ‘being responsible’ for one’s self with an ethics of responsibility; that “common space” which solicits all of us to learn to live together? The principles of the Charter can serve as bench marks to better safeguard against any drift towards a repressive approach to responsibility. In other words, one based on indiscriminately levying on the individual, responsibility of a moralistic nature.

Whether the individual is being held responsible for everything, or for almost nothing, the result is the same– we freeze, held back by a very human trait – our refusal to accept blame!

“Contrary to the legal conception…the moral conception of responsibility doesn’t lend itself to simplistic categorisation. To take responsibility and to become responsible both require a certain willingness to get involved…(in both cases)…responsibility (implies)… accounting for the consequences of one acts and decisions to someone else…How this is done is very different…legally,(responsibility) presumes that one is constrained, threatened or imposed upon, which lead to defensive reactions, negation or outright denial…(on an ethical level, moral )… is about creating a climate which induces involvement far removed from anything to do with forcing or fearing punishment”. [4]

1 Ethical has been added by the author, as ‘moral’ cannot be translated directly as such into english

2 COMTE-SPONVILLE, André. ” Morale ou Éthique “, Lettre internationale, Nº 28, printemps 1991. Par 4 chemins, émission de 17 septembre 1996

3 « Pensées sur la morale » dans les Carnets de philosophie ” dirigé par Marc De Smedt, aux Éditions Albin Miche l’émission de 17 septembre 1996.

4 ETCHEGOYEN, Alain (propos recueillis par COLIN-SIMARD, Valérie). ” Entretien “, Psychologies, avril 1999

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