RESPONSIBILITY

a) Responsibility
b) Personal responsibility
c) Common responsibility
d) Cooperation with Evil
e) Subjectivism
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a) Responsibility

        The freedom, which we as people enjoy, carries along with it a form of responsibility. On the other hand, society is also responsible for the destiny of its citizens, who have completely trusted it.

        So, responsibility:

-is the good or bad use of freedom,
-is independent from what is thought or understood,
-must be rewarded or punished.

        On some occasions, there will be responsible decisions which might not be recognized (i.e. government work), and in other cases serious irresponsibility that might go unpunished (i.e. speeding) or might not be looked down on badly (i.e. information, manipulation).

b) Personal responsibility

        This is what each of us has. It means that every one of us has to answer to his/her obligations. A neighbour for example, isn’t the one who has to pay attention to a child’s education but the parents.

        Personal responsibility can be:

-blamable, when someone hasn’t taken care of, omitted or thrown it away, because of laziness or negligence;
-blameless, if so
meone hasn’t had their complete freedom to use it fully.

        Everyone should be aware of his/her own acts, and because of this, they should not let themselves be led by what they see or think of people, and to whether it would be looked down on or not.

c) Common responsibility

        This is what all the citizens of a society should have. It means we are all responsible for the destiny of everyone else. We have to collaborate to create a common good which we can all benefit from. A public hospital, for example; we could never have one unless we all give a certain percentage of our salaries.

        Those who have the responsibility for the common good are guilty if:

-they are accomplices. They haven’t avoided evil which they could have (police, justice…);
-they have scandalized. They h
ave made citizens sin, through public power (means of communication…).

d) Cooperation with Evil

        Whoever collaborates knowingly with someone who does evil or behaves wrongly commits the same sin as the sinner. "I haven’t done anything wrong, but I have helped someone else to". Cooperation with evil can be in two ways:

-formal cooperation, when someone collaborates with evil voluntarily (knowingly);
-material cooperation, w
hen someone cooperates with evil, but doesn’t actually want what is being done (with no conviction).

e) Subjectivism

        Until now we have seen how the morality of an act is measured through objectivity (things are simply good or they aren’t). Nonetheless, we also need to have complete freedom and conscientious judgment about our acts.

        So, could we say that good and evil subject to what we believe in?

1st things are the way they are, not the way they seem to me,
2nd my opinion is important,
3rd reality is more important than my opinion.

        Therefore, a person can’t place his opinion above what’s right, and an action doesn’t depend on whether he thinks it’s good or bad.

 

Mercaba Eds 
Diocese of Cartagena-Murcia 
General Diagram of Mercaba's You
th Catechism