Individual Autonomy and Responsibility in Late Imperial China By ...

Chapter 8

Questions on
Moral Responsibility

Although “moral responsibility” seems very clear at an intuitive level, when one tries to discuss it in historical and cross-cultural terms, many questions arise. There are many concepts of responsibility, from moral fault to legal liability, and they may appear ambiguous because they can be examined through different lenses. For instance, for British jurist Tony Honoré, the causal inquiry depends on the purpose of the inquiry, and the role of luck and circumstances is dominant in its evaluation.¹ Others distinguish between strict liability and pure moral responsibility, which is free from legal and institutional imperatives. In moral philosophy, there are more connotations of this term in juristic and moral senses.² I will limit the scope of enquiry to the concept focused on the morality of decisions that are supposed to be relatively free from determining factors. We may try with a provisional definition: a moral agent’s opportunity, ability, and knowledge, in the ambit of one’s social background and identity, to independently make decisions for good or bad, and act without determinant external pressures. We must add that, on the one side, this definition cannot but reflect a contemporary way of thinking that does