Responsibility

[andrewducker]

This is inspired by the comment here, where ladysysiphus says "If you have consumed enough alcohol to impair your judgement, I believe you then have to take at least some responsibility for putting yourself in a position where something like this might happen."

[Poll #619684]

Comments

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

Interesting...

I've answered on the grounds that I think responsibility for violence lies with the perpetrator where they are conscious and decision-making. Tigers and bricks aren't so. But it does make me think... I would say all of these cases are about risk assessment and bad luck rather but have trouble matching this with "to blame" or "responsible" in a consistent way.

[andrewducker]

I'd argue that while tigers aren't conscious at the same level that people are, they still have consciousness. We could argue "The Free Will Of The Tiger", but then we'd have to follow up with "The Free Will Of The Human."

Which is why I deliberately put it in, as a mid point between human attackers and bricks randomly falling on my head.

[cangetmad.livejournal.com]

Consciousness, in the case of the tiger, is only partly the point - the rest is morality. Why should the tiger care about you as anything other than food?