Jordan McFadden, “Responsibility for the Effects of Our Actions in a Global Society: A Thomistic Approach,” Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 79, no. 1–2 (2023): 549–62, https://doi.org/10.17990/RPF/2023_79_1_0549.
| Item Type | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Author | Jordan McFadden |
| Abstract | As contemporary ethical discourse has highlighted, due to the world’s increasing connectedness, everyday actions can contribute to harmful consequences far removed from everyday experience. I argue that Aquinas’s treatment of consequences can give us insight into our responsibility for such effects of our actions on a global scale. In particular, Aquinas recognises that we are responsible for per accidens effects of good actions performed negligently. Even an unintended per accidens effect may follow with a degree of likelihood that makes it foreseeable, even if not actually foreseen; thus the agent is responsible if he fails to take steps to prevent the negative per accidens effect from occurring. I argue that certain global effects of our actions fit this pattern, namely, they are per accidens effects that nonetheless follow from our actions with a high degree of likelihood. Thus, we have a responsibility to take steps to prevent them. |
| Date | 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Rights | © 2023 Aletheia - Associação Científica e Cultural |
| Volume | 79 |
| Pages | 549-562 |
| Publication | Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia |
| DOI | 10.17990/RPF/2023_79_1_0549 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| ISSN | 0870-5283 ; 2183-461X |
| Date Added | 31/07/2023, 7:21:59 PM |
| Modified | 31/07/2023, 9:40:14 PM |
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