Responsibility in Technological Civilization: In Search of the Responsible Subject

JVF Conference Papers

In our days responsibility has become the most problematic aspect of almost all human actions, including influencing nature, scientific prognostication, and simulation of the future.

The problem of responsibility is a sign of the crisis which we experience now, resulting from the gap between activities and knowledge about their consequences. Human activity has a mediated and collective nature, which makes it difficult to name the subject of responsibility. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the subjective aspect of responsibility related to the technological activity and conditions in which such liability may be plausibly attributed to any subject.

Analyzing the functions of multiform subjects of responsibility is prerequisite to our understanding the way in which scientific and technological progress shape the contemporary society.

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