[psych, ethics] Responsibility and Authority
Responsibility the obligation to respond. "To take responsibility" means to take the obligation upon oneself to respond -- to be the one that responds.
(Responsibility is not fault. But that's a separate post.)
A responsible person is one who accepts the obligations of responding which they have accrued. "The buck stops here." They do not try to get out of what it is their duty to do, or try to pass that work off to others.
To be responsible for something is to be accountable for it.
Authority is the right to determine the disposition of something. It is the prerogative of "say-so", of deciding the fate of that over which one has authority.
To have authority is to have the right to rule, both in the sense of "to reign over" and in the sense of "to adjudicate". The authority is the one who gets to have the final say. The authority is the one who decides.
When a person has authority over that which he need not take responsibility, that is called tyranny. Tyranny is the state of being able to command where one is not accountable, of being able to make decisions that affect others and have no obligation to respond to them.
When a person has responsibility for that which he has no authority, that is called slavery or servitude. Slavery is when one is held accountable for that which one may not dispose, when one must respond but never rule. Slavery is when one has no "say-so" over that which one is responsible for.
Authority and responsibility needs must be closely matched for there to be justice. It is proper for one to have only as much authority over something as one has responsibility for it, and only so much responsibility for something as one has authority over it.
Whenever the authority and responsibility invested in a person or a system diverge, look for abuses of power. They will be there.
There is a popular saying "with great power comes great responsibility". That is only true if one takes it in an arcane grammatical sense whereby present tense active mood becomes the subjunctive: should. But as a description of reality, it is wrong: it doesn't always come with great responsibility. If we wish there to be justice, we must make sure great power -- great authority -- and great responsibility go hand in hand. But it doesn't come that way. And that is why justice is hard work.
(Responsibility is not fault. But that's a separate post.)
A responsible person is one who accepts the obligations of responding which they have accrued. "The buck stops here." They do not try to get out of what it is their duty to do, or try to pass that work off to others.
To be responsible for something is to be accountable for it.
Authority is the right to determine the disposition of something. It is the prerogative of "say-so", of deciding the fate of that over which one has authority.
To have authority is to have the right to rule, both in the sense of "to reign over" and in the sense of "to adjudicate". The authority is the one who gets to have the final say. The authority is the one who decides.
When a person has authority over that which he need not take responsibility, that is called tyranny. Tyranny is the state of being able to command where one is not accountable, of being able to make decisions that affect others and have no obligation to respond to them.
When a person has responsibility for that which he has no authority, that is called slavery or servitude. Slavery is when one is held accountable for that which one may not dispose, when one must respond but never rule. Slavery is when one has no "say-so" over that which one is responsible for.
Authority and responsibility needs must be closely matched for there to be justice. It is proper for one to have only as much authority over something as one has responsibility for it, and only so much responsibility for something as one has authority over it.
Whenever the authority and responsibility invested in a person or a system diverge, look for abuses of power. They will be there.
There is a popular saying "with great power comes great responsibility". That is only true if one takes it in an arcane grammatical sense whereby present tense active mood becomes the subjunctive: should. But as a description of reality, it is wrong: it doesn't always come with great responsibility. If we wish there to be justice, we must make sure great power -- great authority -- and great responsibility go hand in hand. But it doesn't come that way. And that is why justice is hard work.