On Having the Status “Responsible Person”

Abstract

Abstract Taking a practice-based approach to responsibility, we might ask, “What conception of the default status ‘responsible person’ is presupposed by the structure of social practices?” The chapter argues that social practices presume that responsible persons are, first, capable of living up to normative expectations—they are accountability responsible; second, they are in fact disposed to satisfy minimal normative expectations—they are compliance responsible; and, third, they are both capable of taking, and disposed to at least sometimes take, responsibility for promoting goods in ways they are not obligated to do—they are responsibility takers.