Volume 69, 2018
Political Philosophy
Eero Kaila
Pages 211-216
When is the Ruler Responsible?
Three Interpretations of Aristotle’s Responsibility
This paper examines Aristotle’s conception of responsibility through three different interpretations present in contemporary ethics and political philosophy. The topics of moral and political responsibility are discussed within Nicomachean Ethics and Politics, which contain an emphasis on human character and its components, the virtues. Discussion on responsibility has been present in one form or another within the history of western philosophy since its very beginning. As there has not been any universally recognized, continuous process of definition, the writings on responsibility by Aristotle are still as valid source as any other of the more recent theories on the subject. Aristotle doesn’t have a directly translatable word for “responsibility”. Therefore some interpretation has to be used. If ethics and political philosophy of the last decades are looked at, it seems that there have been several different approaches to Aristotle’s conception of responsibility. In this presentation three of these approaches are examined: (a)responsibility for action, (b) responsibility for character and (c) political responsibility. Through these three interpretations of Aristotle’s responsibilityit is reflected upon, what of his ideas could be utilised in contemporary discussion on responsibility.