essays about responsibility

Essays About Responsibility: Top 12 Examples and Prompts

We can’t take on the challenge of life without responsibility; If you are writing essays about responsibility, discover our guide below.

The word responsibility describes the state of being accountable for our actions and is one of the main elements that make us human. We are not born with it; instead, it is something to be exercised and improved on over time.

It has often been said that with power or freedom comes responsibility, which could not be more truthful. Each of us is gifted with the ability to make choices, and we are considered superior to all other living things on this planet. However, we have to make informed choices and be responsible for our actions, whether to ourselves, the people around us, and our environment.

5 Top Essay Examples

1. the value of responsibility by simon baker, 2. freedom is not the lack of constraint, but the exercise of responsibility by beulah west, 3. why responsibility is so important by steve rose.

• 4.  The Beneifts of Being Responsible by Frank Terzo
• 5. ​​What It’s like to Feel Responsible for Everything by Duncan Riach

1. The Importance of Responsibility

2. dealing with false responsibility, 3. freedom and responsibility, 4. what is social responsibility, 5. what are your responsibilities, 6. responsibility as a component of success, 7. a time you acted responsibly.

“It’s easy for us to become blinkered or out-of-touch when we’re constantly working with our heads down. Although meeting our commitments is hugely important we bear another responsibility, that is to invest in ourselves and in each other. When we can free our imagination and refresh our minds, we restore perspective and reduce stress. We find time and space to explore new ways to collaborate, be creative and enjoy ourselves to the benefit of our mission.”

Baker writes about why he thinks responsibility is important and discusses factors related to responsibility, namely trust, personal choice, and freedom. A feeling of trust allows you to be more comfortable accepting responsibility, while responsibility allows us to maximize personal choice and freedom. Most importantly, bearing responsibility means freeing our minds, enjoying life, and coming up with great ideas. 

“A lack of constraint means that you can not do everything that you want. In a perfect world this would be fine, but we don’t live in a perfect world. However everyone’s view of a perfect world is different, if this coincides with the law and you are happy, then you can be free still living under laws and legislations. If you believe that freedom is making your own choices then the only way that we can be “free” is if society does not exist.”

West discusses how just as personal freedom is vital to a healthy society, so is accountability for our actions. Freedom also has a negative side; it can be described as a lack of constraint in our choices. Without constraint, our actions may hurt others or even ourselves. Therefore, it must come with the responsibility to make these choices from a more thoughtful, educated perspective. 

You might also be interested in our list of essays about effective leadership . You can also check out these articles and essays about attitude .

“Taking responsibility creates long term resilience and a sense of purpose. This sense of purpose can be fostered by taking responsibility for one’s self by engaging in self-care. Responsibility can also be developed on a familial and societal level, offering a sense of purpose proportional to your ability to contribute your unique abilities.”

Rose explores the importance of being responsible for one’s health. It gives us a sense of purpose and helps us build resilience; however, we must first be responsible for ourselves by practicing self-care. This includes resting, exercising, taking breaks, and going to the doctor if something is bothering us. This makes us more responsible for the people around us, allowing us to perform different societal roles. You might be inspired by these essays about success and essays about overcoming challenges .

4.   The Beneifts of Being Responsible by Frank Terzo

“If we take care of our commitments, even if it something we might like to ignore, we feel better about ourselves. Each step we take towards being responsible and productive helps to raise our self-esteem and our relationships with friends, family and co-workers improve ten-fold. Being responsible pays big dividends – we have much less stress and chaos in our lives and we gain the respect of others.”

In this short essay, Terzo provides insight into the many benefits responsibility can provide you with. We must always be responsible, even if we might not feel like it, because it can improve our productivity, self-esteem, relationships with others, and overall peace. Though it might not always be easy, responsibility is key to achieving a happy life. 

5. ​​ What It’s like to Feel Responsible for Everything by Duncan Riach

“I hold responsibility when others are not taking responsibility. I was holding all of the responsibility, guilt, and shame that Billy McFarland was disowning. It’s a survival mechanism that I developed when I was a child. I had a step-father who was some form of psychopath or malignant narcissist, a person who was completely out of control and completely irresponsible. The only way that I could feel safe in that environment was to try to hold the responsibility myself.”

Riach reflects on a habit by which he constantly felt responsible for things out of his control, things as minor as events he saw on television. He developed this habit due to his upbringing- his childhood and family life were less than ideal. He is fully aware of his problem but still struggles with it. His case is an excellent example of false responsibility. 

6 Writing Prompts on Essays About Responsibility

Responsibility is, without a doubt, essential, but how important is it really? Reflect on the meaning of responsibility and explain its importance. Discuss this from a practical and personal standpoint; combine personal experience and research as the basis for your points. 

False responsibility is an attitude by which one feels responsible for things they are not. This is a widespread issue that encompasses everyone, from humble workers to some of the most influential people in the world. For your essay, research this phenomenon, then define it and explain why it occurs. Give suggestions on how one can identify false responsibility and work to stop feeling that way. 

The topics of freedom and personal responsibility are deeply intertwined; for freedom to work correctly, there must be a certain level of responsibility instilled in people so society can function correctly. In your essay, discuss these two concepts and their connection. Do proper research on this topic, then conclude this issue: are we responsible enough to be given total freedom? You may also link this to topics such as the law and regulations. You might be inspired by these essays about goals .

Social Responsibility seems straightforward and self-defining, but it is broad, especially with society putting a higher value on awareness, community, and social justice. Research this term and its history and discuss it in your essay; define and explain it, then describe what it means. 

Whether in your studies or at work, as a family member, friend, or even a member of society, we have a unique set of responsibilities that vary depending on the person. Reflect on the different roles you play in life and decide what your responsibilities are. Briefly describe each one and explain how you fulfill these responsibilities. You can also check out these essays about conflict .

This value is important because it is present in all successful individuals. Based on your opinions and research, discuss the relationship between responsibility, success, and some other factors or traits that influence success. Give examples of successful people who have shown responsibility, such as government officials, celebrities, and business leaders. 

When we are responsible, we are pretty proud of ourselves most of the time. Think of an experience you are most proud of in which you acted responsibly. Retell the story, reflect on how you felt, and explain why it is important- be as detailed as possible. Or, you may opt to do the opposite, telling the story of a time you did not show responsibility and thinking of what you would do if given a chance to repeat it. 

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Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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How to write a compelling responsibility essay the right way.

February 6, 2020

I’m sure this is a word you’ve heard since your childhood, responsibility. Your parents, teachers, neighbors, and even the famous high school and college motivational speakers have talked to you about this.

What does responsibility mean to you? I remember my mother telling me, “Son if you are not responsible now, you might never get a wife. And remember, I want grandchildren!” So I have been trying to maintain a sense of responsibility so that I don’t miss out on a wife and deny my mum the golden opportunity of having grandchildren.

That aside, let’s get down to why we are here, writing a responsibility essay.

What is a Responsibility Essay?

The word responsibility in itself is a one-sentence definition. It implies a state of having an obligation to deal with something.

A responsibility essay is, therefore, one that shows a person’s grasp of the outcome, which can be caused by his/her actions. In a broad sense, it means that there is a situation at hand, and how it is going to be handled by the person is critical to the final results.

No one is born with this sense of responsibility. It is a value that is cultivated over time by learning either directly or indirectly from others. A mother has a duty of taking care of the baby until a certain age, so does a president has responsibility for a nation.

Responsibility essay assignments for students hardly miss because this is a practical aspect of life.

Writing Ideas on a Responsibility Essay

Are you there stranded on where to begin your 1000 word essay on responsibility? Well, here are some great ideas that you can borrow from for starters:

• Primary responsibilities: You can write about what you are tasked with daily, and you are getting along with those responsibilities.
• Social responsibility: Talk about society’s rights and how they relate to their duty. Is there a conflict between the two?
• Power and responsibility: Is it true that those in power are the ones mandated with greater responsibilities than the others in society?
• Why is it hard to take it? Here you can delve into the issue of why people do not want to take responsibility for their actions. For instance, a man who impregnates a lady and refuses to own up, thus running away and leaving the lady to fend for herself and the child.

I would not be doing justice if I left this section without quoting the famous Peter Parker’s Principle, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” For those who may not be familiar with that, watch Spider-Man, the movie.

A personal responsibility essay is the cheapest to write. I mean, isn’t there a time you were tasked with watching over your siblings, being the captain of a class, or even tending your flock back in the ranch? All that was responsible, and, in your essay, show whether you were good or bad at it, or sooner if you enjoyed working at it.

You can also show in your essay on why responsibility is essential. If you were looking after your little sister and out of your irresponsibility, she slipped into the kitchen and caused a fire, doesn’t that tell you why you need to be responsible?

If your niche is on leadership, then you can write an essay on responsibility and accountability. Show why the leaders need to be transparent in their undertakings and why it is essential to the citizens at large.

For every successful writer, you need to have an outline . A responsibility paper outline will help you achieve the following:

• Know if your thoughts are well interconnected
• Point out potholes in your essay
• Come up with a clear and precise sequence of ideas
• To determine if the sufficiency of the evidence at hand.

Such will save you the agony of taking a lot of time to write your responsibility. The subsequent speech on responsibility will, therefore, be precise and complete, and perhaps compete for audience with Obama’s speeches.

And if that’s not enough, let us look at some topics you can use for your next essay about responsibility.

Top 10 Winning Topic Ideas for a Responsibility Essay

These topics will act as an icebreaker to stir you up for more great ideas that you can write about from today.

Are you ready for this? Here we go!

• With high power, comes great responsibility (I wouldn’t miss starting with this)
• What is the importance of being responsible?
• At what age can someone be considered responsible enough?
• Leadership and responsibility
• Personal responsibility in college
• Is responsibility an obligation to oneself?
• Personal responsibility and academic success
• Responsibility gun control
• Legal and ethical implications of irresponsibility
• Social responsibility and reduction of crime rate
• Responsible parenting
• Am I good at fulfilling my obligations?
• Rights versus responsibilities
• To be or not to be responsible
• Accountability starts with me!

Crafting Great Responsibility Essay

Well, I guess that is enough to get you started and improve your grades, especially in essay writing. Why don’t you choose one of the topics and craft an essay now?

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Responsibility — The Nature of Responsibility

The Nature of Responsibility

• Categories: Responsibility

About this sample

Words: 1134 |

Published: Sep 4, 2018

Words: 1134 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Works Cited:

• Bartholomew, R. E. (2018). Understanding conversion disorder: A guide for the medical profession. ABC-CLIO.
• Daily.jstor.org. (2017, January 24). The Little Ice Age: A World-Lost. JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/the-little-ice-age-a-world-lost/
• Foskett, D. J. (2020). The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. Rowman & Littlefield.
• Hansen, C. B. (2017). Witches, Magic, and Transgression in the European Middle Ages. Oxford University Press.
• Kirsch, G. E. (2019). The Salem witch trials: A reference guide. ABC-CLIO.
• Norton, M. B. (2016). In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. Vintage.
• Rosenthal, B. (2013). Salem story: reading the witch trials of 1692. Cambridge University Press.
• Starkey, M. (2015). The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Enquiry into the Salem Witch Trials. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
• Wright, L. (2017). Salem witch trials. Routledge.
• Woolf, A. (2019). The Salem Witch Trials. Pearson Education Limited.

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Responsibility Essay: Topic Ideas & Responsibility Writing Prompts

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say” Martin Luther

Our specialists will write a custom essay specially for you!

There are a lot of other good quotations that can serve as a good beginning for your essay on responsibility and provide good ideas for writing.

However, responsibility can be viewed from different perspectives, which is why making the final decision for your essay on responsibility can be rather challenging.

If this is your main problem with the responsibility essay, we are glad to help you and offer some brilliant ideas, just check our website .

• 👔 Your Major Responsibilities
• 🔋 Power and Responsibility
• 💻 Social Responsibility Essays
• ❓ Why Is It so Hard to Take It?

✍️ Other Responsibility Essay Topics

1. 👔 your major responsibilities.

If you have absolutely nothing to talk about in the responsibility essay, writing about yourself and your duties can be a good option. So, what are you responsible for? Have your responsibilities changed with time? Do you think you are good at fulfilling them?

2. 🔋 Power and Responsibility

“With great power comes great responsibility” – this can be the main idea of your essay. Do you agree that people who possess power are responsible for many things ? What happens if powerful people act irresponsibly?

Just in 1 hour! We will write you a plagiarism-free paper in hardly more than 1 hour

3. 💻 Social Responsibility Essays

Do you agree that today people have a lot of rights but do not think much about their responsibilities? Which one of them does a citizen have or a simple person who lives in society along with other people? Answer these questions in your essay on responsibility .

4. ❓ Why Is It so Hard to Take It?

Why are some people afraid to take responsibility for their actions? In your essay on responsibility , introduce several situations like that and tell about the consequences of not taking responsibility.

• Is responsibility a fundamental quality any person must possess?
• Analyze the role of ethics and responsibility at work .
• How do you understand corporate social responsibility ?
• Explain the role and responsibility of business .
• The importance of corporate social responsibility in the modern world .
• Discuss the issues of corporate social responsibility and the ways to overcome them.
• Describe moral responsibility of each individual for the contribution in global warming.
• Explain why freedom of speech entails a great responsibility to each individual.
• Examine why the sense of responsibility is often considered a driving force of human development.
• Analyze the role of managers in development of corporate social responsibility.  
• Explore the complex issue of social responsibility for advertising to children .
• Diverce interpretations interpretations of the term “responcibility” and your personal vision of responsibility .
• Why it is vital to be a responsible person .
• Modern technology, anonymity, and responsibility from a cultural relativism perspective .
• Does Apple show concern for ethical and social responsibility ?
• Discuss the specifics of professional responsibility of lawyers .
• What are you responsible for in your personal life and immediate environment ?
• Describe the peculiarities of ethical responsibility of police administrators. 
• Do you feel any responsibility for the things outside of your immediate environment?  
• Explain why leadership is a great responsibility.
• Positive and negative impact of globalization on corporate social responsibility in international companies .
• Analyze the responsibility of citizens for the actions their government take.
• Examine the importance of socially responsible leadership in education .
• What is the student’s responsibility at college?
• Discuss the connection between social and personal responsibility .
• How to become responsible ?
• Explore the connection between personal responsibility and success.
• The role of parents in formation the sense of responsibility in children.
• The basic aspects of corporate responsibility philosophy.
• What does personal responsibility towards the society include?
• Discuss the human responsibility for issues outside the immediate environment.
• Are the leaders responsible for social media posts of their team?  
• Explore who is responsible for the epidemic of childhood obesity  
• Describe the areas of responsibility people have in their personal lives.  
• Why do people often shrink from personal responsibility ?
• Benefits of corporate social responsibility.
• Who is responsible for poverty and violence in developing nations ?
• Explain why you consider yourself a responsible human being .
• Discuss the strong and weak points of the personal responsibility concept.
• People’s responsibility for inhumane acts. 
• Describe different points of view on the concept of responsibility.
• Analyze the concept of responsibility from ethical point of view.
• Are parents responsible for children’s crimes?
• What does responsibility mean to you?
• Should celebrities be responsible for being role models?
• Explain why free will is a huge responsibility.  
• What are the major traits of a responsible person ?
• Discuss the ethical responsibility in nursing profession.  
• Where are the limits of personal responsibility ?
• Describe the connection between responsibility and morality.

Well, this is it for now. If you are asked to cover other complicated topics, remember that we can also help you with essays on leadership and many-many others.

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This was extremely helpful. Thanks! I have to complete a responsibility essay in a couple of days, and this post was golden to me. Again, thanks!

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Essays on Responsibility

Responsibility means performing tasks you need to perform, like writing a responsibility essay and managing the consequences. Authors of responsibility essays develop different definitions of responsibility. Responsibility can be defined as the ability of a person to complete or fulfill what was entrusted to them, or what they have taken upon themselves. Essays on responsibility explore external ways to ensure a person’s responsibility, like accountability at work, or punishment for failure. Other essays emphasize that internal ways – self-regulation, sense of responsibility, and sense of duty – samples below will further elaborate on this topic. We need to remember that while we all have our daily responsibilities, we also share global responsibility for the surrounding people and the world. Our responsibility essay samples can serve as a template for your essay, so take a quick peek!

The essay will exhibit the manner in which human beings are both morally responsible as well as the fact that they possess free will in their actions. Notably, is responsible for the various acts he performs in case the person has the moment in which he can decide whether to...

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Besides the challenging studies, assignments, and projects, there are various other challenges that a student goes through in his or her journey to adulthood. A few weeks ago, my friends and I were walking home from school when we decided to play soccer on the road as we walked. Deep...

The primary argument The primary argument concerning the topic is that except for the vulnerable groups in the society, people should bear the responsibility for their health and behaviour at an individual level. The first reason The first reason is that all people have the autonomy to make decisions which are also known...

Every day, businesses are tasked with making choices that will impact both the organization s regular operations and the communities in which they operate. Making ethical decisions is a difficult task because they are constantly weighed against opposing factors that affect a business. For instance, choosing between immediate gratification and...

Such an important day has come. I humbly embrace the people's choice to make me the 45th President of this wonderful country. Godspeed, everyone It is time to put aside our differences and work together to make our country wonderful after months of hard campaigning and gaining support. One of our country's...

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Landlord and Tenant Rules and Regulations Landlord and tenant rules and regulations are set forth by both the federal and state governments, which explains why they vary from one state to the next. There are, however, shared obligations and privileges between the landlord and the tenant. The landlord has the legal...

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A thorough investigation of the accessible business establishments is necessary when forming companies. The parties involved will be able to determine their responsibilities and liabilities with the proper information regarding the defined business structure, preventing future disputes within the company. (Henning, 2012). In this situation, Adam, Laura, and Beth ought to...

Research is an essential part of the educational process because it has a significant influence on current medical knowledge and practice. Generally speaking, the goal of research is to create new knowledge or to confirm previously discovered knowledge that has taken the shape of a theory. Nowadays, an entry-level nurse's...

The debts due by the partnership's limited partners cannot be collected by the bankruptcy trustee. The partners are not liable to the company, according to the proper filing. (Bebchuk, 2005). However, the bankruptcy office may decide to liquidate all of the partnerships' properties in order to pay off all outstanding...

In the US and many other countries, the freedom of children to participate in medical decisions has repeatedly been overlooked. (Huntington and Elizabeth 178). The state has completely authorized and charged their parents with the responsibility of making decisions regarding their children s health rather than allowing the adolescents to do...

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My Way: Essays on Moral Responsibility

Fischer, John Martin, My Way: Essays on Moral Responsibility , Oxford University Press, 2006, 260pp, $45.00 (hbk), ISBN 0195179552.

Reviewed by Ishtiyaque Haji, University of Calgary

Moral responsibility has a number of requirements including a control (or freedom), an "authenticity" (or ownership), and an epistemic requirement. The twelve highly insightful and commandingly influential essays in My Way largely address one or more aspects of the first two requirements. The introductory essay is new; the remaining eleven, common currency in the free will literature, have been reprinted with or without minor changes. The fourth and ninth are co-authored, the former with Mark Ravizza, the latter with Eleonore Stump. Rather than give a chapter-by-chapter summary, it will be more helpful to articulate the work's central themes.

A champion of compatibilism, Fischer accepts the conclusion of the Consequence Argument that determinism is incompatible with two-way or regulative control . But he argues that responsibility does not presuppose this species of control largely (though not exclusively) by invoking Frankfurt examples. Responsibility, he proposes, demands only one-way guidance control that can be exemplified in the actual sequence of events culminating in conduct; actions, omissions, and their consequences are symmetric in not requiring alternative possibilities for responsibility. Fischer argues, in addition, against the view that causal determinism in the actual sequence directly--that is, quite apart from expunging alternatives--undermines responsibility. The conclusion of this stream of reasoning is that responsibility can be safeguarded against what some have taken to be the most serious of determinism's threat to it: "genuine" alternatives are non-existent in a determined world.

Fischer seeks to deflect two other alleged threats of determinism to responsibility. One "direct" argument for incompatibilism invokes some version of a transfer of non-responsibility principle. Letting p and q be variables that range over propositions, and taking 'NR( p )' to abbreviate ' p and no one is (now), or ever has been morally responsible for the fact that p ,' one incarnation of this principle says that if NR( p ), and NR(if p , then q ), then NR( q ). If determinism is true, the non-relational facts of the past and the laws entail all present and future truths. But owing to no one's being responsible for the past and the laws, and no one's being responsible for its being the case that the past and the laws entail all future events, it follows from an application of the transfer principle that no one is ever morally responsible for one's behavior. The argument is direct because, if sound, it secures the incompatibility of determinism and responsibility independently of any premise to the effect that responsibility requires alternative possibilities. Fischer, though, rejects this argument by producing counterexamples against various versions of the transfer principle. These examples are, roughly, Frankfurt cases involving simultaneous overdetermination. So, for instance, Betty may well be morally responsible for destroying an enemy camp at a certain time, but even without her scheming, an avalanche for which no one is responsible would still have destroyed the camp at that time.

A second direct argument draws on the thought that a person is responsible for something only if he is an ultimate originator of that thing. This condition attempts to capture the idea that if our actions originate in sources, such as the distant past and the natural laws, over which we lack any sort of control, then we are not responsible for these actions. In response, Fischer proposes that there are compatibilist and incompatibilist notions of ultimate origination. He argues that it is not obvious that moral responsibility requires a conception of origination that involves causal indeterminism, especially if one renounces the thesis that responsibility presupposes regulative control.

It is one thing to argue for responsibility's requiring only one-way guidance control, quite another to develop and defend a substantive account of such control. Rising to the task, Fischer (and his co-author Ravizza) propose that guidance control has two components, neither of which determinism impugns. A distinction is presupposed between the kind of "mechanism"--roughly, the type of process--that actually causally issues in the agent's behavior and other sorts of mechanism. The reasons-responsiveness component requires that the mechanism that produces the action be appropriately sensitive to reasons. The ownership component requires that the mechanism be the agent's own. Briefly put, an agent has guidance control in performing an action if and only if the action issues from his own, moderately reasons-responsive mechanism.

Moderate reasons-responsiveness consists in regular reasons-receptivity, and at least weak reasons-reactivity, of the actual-sequence mechanism that leads to action. Reasons-receptivity is the capacity to recognize the reasons that exist, and reasons-reactivity is the capacity to translate reasons into choices (and subsequent behavior). Regular reasons-receptivity involves an understandable pattern of actual and hypothetical reasons-receptivity. A mechanism of the agent that issues in the agent's performing some action in the actual world is weakly reasons-reactive if there is some possible world with the same laws in which a mechanism of this very kind is operative in the agent, there is sufficient reason to do otherwise, the agent recognizes this reason, and the agent does otherwise for this reason.

It is possible for an agent's actions to issue from a moderately reasons-responsive mechanism whose primary constituents have been induced externally by clandestine manipulation, hypnosis, brainwashing, and so forth. Intuitively, in cases of this sort the agent is not morally responsible for the pertinent actions. Such cases impel Fischer and Ravizza to theorize that the way in which the agent's springs of action are acquired has a pronounced bearing on responsibility; responsibility is, consequently, an essentially "historical" phenomenon. Fischer and Ravizza's prognosis is that in these troubling cases, the mechanism that issues in action is not the "agent's own", the agent having failed to take responsibility for it. Reasons sensitivity, thus, requires supplementation with the mechanism-ownership component to guard against causal springs being acquired in a manner that subverts responsibility.

Taking responsibility, measures by which an agent makes a mechanism "his own", involves three elements: the agent must regard himself as the source of consequences in the world by realizing that his choices have effects in the world; the agent must see himself as an appropriate candidate for morally reactive attitudes as a result of how he affects the world; and these beliefs about himself must be based on his evidence in an appropriate way.

The account of guidance control of actions is extended to guidance control of intentional omissions and the upshots of actions or omissions. Moral responsibility for all these items is, thus, "tied together by a unified deep theory" (17).

Recently, it has been argued that determinism undermines the truth of other pivotal moral judgments such as that of deontic judgments involving moral obligation, right, and wrong. One such argument that I have developed starts with the "ought" implies "can" principle: if one morally ought to [ought not to] do something, then one can do [can refrain from doing] that thing; and the principle: if it is morally wrong for one to do something, then one morally ought not to do it. These principles entail that if it is wrong for one to do something, then one can refrain from doing it. So there is a requirement of alternative possibilities for wrongness. The argument can be extended to show that there is such a requirement for obligation and rightness as well. As determinism effaces alternative possibilities, determinism threatens the truth of deontic judgments. Fischer submits that it would render his semicompatibilism--the view that determinism is incompatible with regulative control but compatible with responsibility--considerably less interesting if determinism undermined other moral appraisals such as deontic ones. Thus, Fischer challenges the sort of argument that I have sketched. He claims that various Frankfurt examples involving omissions give us reason to jettison the "ought" implies "can" principle. Suppose that in one instance of this sort of case, Sally fails to raise her hand, thereby ensuring that a child is not rescued from impending disaster. Sally is blameworthy for this omission even though, given her circumstances, she could not have raised her hand. Fischer reasons that since Sally is morally blameworthy for not raising her hand, "she acted wrongly in failing to raise her hand, and thus that she ought to have raised it" (25). But as she could not have raised it, "ought" does not imply "can."

On various "libertarian" accounts, metaphysically available alternative possibilities, or at least the assumption of such availability, are required for practical reasoning and deliberation. Skeptical of such accounts, Fischer proposes that the point of practical reasoning is not to make a difference in the sense of selecting from available alternatives, but to figure out what one has reason to do, all things considered. A rational agent wants to ensure that her choices conform to her all-things-considered-best judgment concerning what she should choose or do. Such an agent would still have this sort of aim even if she were aware that she lived in a causally determined world in which alternative possibilities were unavailable.

Finally, Fischer inquires into why we value morally responsible action. He proposes that when an agent exhibits guidance control and is thus morally responsible for his conduct, he need not be understood to be making a difference to the world; so the value of moral responsibility cannot be the value of making a difference. Rather, Fischer ventures that we conceive of the value of responsibility somewhat in the fashion in which we conceive of the value of artistic self-expression. Just as an artist's creative activity has value because, in engaging in such activity, he expresses himself in a certain way--the artist does or need not make a difference but he does make a statement--so the distinctive value in acting in such a way as to be morally responsible lies in a certain sort of self-expression. Fischer contends that life has a narrative structure in that "the meanings and values of the parts of our lives are affected by their narrative relationships with other parts of our lives, and the welfare value of our lives as a whole are not simple additive functions of the values of the parts" (116). In this sense, our lives are stories. In performing an action for which we are morally responsible, "we can be understood as writing a sentence in the book of our life" (116).

The essays in this volume, together with Fischer's other pieces, have played a major role in shaping the contemporary debate in the metaphysics of free will. Whether or not one ultimately agrees with the relevant positions that Fischer defends, one can ill afford to ignore the wealth of wisdom in the story of responsibility that Fischer carefully crafts. I confine critical attention to two of its elements.

Fischer concedes too much when he claims that his semicompatibilism would be far less engaging if determinism undermined other central moral assessments such as deontic ones. After all, the conditions of satisfaction for the truth of one species of moral judgment need not coincide with those of another species. Further, Fischer attempts to insulate the integrity of deontic judgments against determinism by appealing to the premise that if a person (like Sally) is morally blameworthy for an action, then it is morally wrong for her to perform that action. If one accepts this premise, and if determinism undermines wrongness, then determinism undermines blameworthiness. But I have argued that this premise is false. Blameworthiness requires not that an agent do wrong but that she perform an action on the basis of the belief that she is doing wrong in performing it.

What Fischer offers on the value of moral responsibility is both intriguing and puzzling. First, there is the rich ambiguity of the terms 'value' and 'valuable.' In their most fundamental senses, to value something is to be favorably disposed toward it, and something is valuable if it is good--if it is worthy of being something toward which one is favorably disposed. But it seems that this is not the sense of 'value' or of 'valuable' at issue. With free action, for instance, one might propose in response to why such action is valuable (in the strict sense) that it is intrinsically good. Fischer suggests another sense of 'value' which is more apt, given the context. He says that when an agent exhibits guidance control and is, hence, morally responsible, "it is unattractive to think that the explanation of his moral responsibility--the intuitive reason why we hold him morally responsible--is that he makes a difference to the world. Rather…he expresses himself in a certain way" (114). The proposal is that the sense of 'value' at issue is associated with an intuitive explanation of why the person is morally responsible when she is so responsible. Elaborating, Fischer writes:

[S]ome of the debates about whether alternative possibilities are required for moral responsibility may at some level be fueled by different intuitive pictures of moral responsibility. It may be that the proponents of the regulative control model are implicitly in the grip of the "making-a-difference" picture, whereas the proponents of the guidance control model are implicitly accepting the self-expression picture…. [P]resenting the self-expression picture can be helpful for the following reason. The debates about whether alternative possibilities are required for moral responsibility have issued in what some might consider stalemates; …I do not know of any decisive arguments (employing Frankfurt-type examples) for the conclusion that only guidance control, and not regulative control, is required for moral responsibility. My suggestion is that if one finds the self-expression picture of moral responsibility more compelling than the making-a-difference picture, then this should incline one toward the conclusion that guidance control exhausts the freedom-relevant component of moral responsibility. (119)

On this estimation of the significance of the self-expression picture, it is not transparent why the value of guidance control is tied to narrative value. Part of what it is to have narrative value, Fischer submits, is that the overall welfare value of one's life is not merely a function of adding up all the momentary levels of well-being. Suppose that one does not (as I do not) renounce "additiveness." Assuming that there are "atoms" of well-being, basic intrinsic value states whose sum in a life exhausts the welfare value of the life for the person who lives that life, why could it not be that self-expression is still tied in some fashion to the agent's "writing sentences" in the story of his life? Second, would shifting the focus of the debate on whether responsibility does in fact require alternative possibilities to the intuitive pictures to which Fischer calls our attention help to break the stalemate between the relevant rivals? I have my doubts. If the value of guidance control is analogous to that of artistic self-expression, one would expect libertarians to plump for the position that artistic creativity, including genuine artistic self-expression, presupposes the falsity of determinism; either such creativity or self-expression requires the sort of authorship or ultimate origination that determinism precludes or it requires indeterministic causation of the constellation of behavior constitutive of such creativity or self-expression.

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How to Write Catchy Responsibility Essays in 2023

Writing great responsibility essays and getting them to read and rank is not easy. Here are top-notch tricks to help you achieve these two.

What is a Responsibility Essay?

Responsibility entails our ability to make decisions that serve our interests as well as those of others.

Therefore, an essay on responsibility has the following crucial aspects:

An in-depth understanding of trust in life The critical consequences related to it Factors that lead to its recognition in the society

Most students find essays on responsibility a hard nut to crack, which should not be the case. Read on to find out how you can craft a masterpiece responsibility essay for your assignment.

How to Write Essays About Responsibility: Structure

Now, to beat the rest of your classmates and stand a chance of attaining an A+, you have to master the secret ingredients behind all this. Keep your eyes peeled.

Before you embark on writing, a persuasive outline would correctly set the pace for you. What should your framework entail?

• Identify a Thematic Area of Interest on Responsibility

It contains the title and, subsequently, the basis of your thesis statement. Such should be a topic that interests you (and your readers) so that you can write it with a smile.

The topic should be:

• Relevant to your readers
• One that you can research on
• Precise and appealing to anyone who comes around it

For instance, if your focus is on personal responsibility essays, you can choose from the following topics:

• Maturity and personal responsibility
• How to deal with obligations systematically
• Personal responsibility and blame on oneself
• Personal responsibility plays a significant role in college

From these topics, you can then derive an A-grade thesis statement that will be the rest of your essay’s driving force. Here is an example:

• Personal responsibility is the hallmark of maturity. Here is why it is so.

There are many other ideas that you can use to start your responsibility essay to win the hearts of your readers.

• Determine the Different Sub-categories to Support Your Major Idea

After having your topic and thesis statement, here comes the heart of the matter, the body. You will need to support your claims with relevant examples, facts, and statistics.

Let us see great prompts that you can use for the following types of essays:

Age of Responsibility Essays

In such kinds of essays, your body should answer the following questions:

• What is the age of responsibility, and who determines it?
• Why that age bracket is considered responsible
• Are there any psychological factors related to that age?

Social Responsibility Essays

One can tackle this type of essay with the following questions in mind:

• What if all the members of the society were responsible?
• What are some of the problems, challenges, and conflicts in society?
• Are people relying much on rights and neglecting responsibilities?
• What are the impacts of such a trait?
• How can we all work towards social responsibility?

Essays on Responsibility and Accountability

Use the following thoughts to write your essay body:

• Who should hold people responsible?
• How does someone learn to be accountable?
• Do you think you people are responsible without someone else over them?
• What is the relationship between responsibility and accountability?
• Can an irresponsible person be liable?

Essays on Power and Responsibility

Liven up your body with some of the ideas listed below:

• Does vast power come with great responsibility?
• What should happen to irresponsible leaders?
• Are the citizens to blame for irresponsible leaders?
• How to attain responsible leadership in society

Remember that the body should present your arguments in a clear, persuasive, and amusing manner. The reader should get all his questions answered in the body.

• Summarize With a Logical Conclusion

If asked, a majority of students would tell you that the conclusion is not that important. However, contrary to that popular belief, the end is as important as the title, intro, and body.

The responsibility essays for students should:

• Be brief and to the point
• Not be a repetition of the points discussed in the body
• Have a call to action (asking the readers to be responsible either at an individual or corporate level)

Essays on personal responsibility are the cheapest to write since you can easily relate them with your own life. Therefore, take caution so as not to be emotional or add your feelings to the paper.

Personal Responsibility Essay Sample The KQ I find the most intuitive in ethical decision making is the “outcomes”. I consider this the key question to be my most important guide to the ethical decision making because actions have consequences and those consequences are not only limited to the person initiating the action but also other people. When we consider the potential outcomes of an action for different stakeholder groups including us, we can make the decisions that will advance the overall interests of all the stakeholders involved. This approach also ensures we do not only consider personal interests but can act in a selfless manner. I believe this approach also serves as a useful guide when making the laws and rules that govern the conduct of communities as well the greater society. I have been influenced to take this approach because I care about the social issues that affect the modern society and such issues include climate change, equal rights for women, and equal rights for minority groups. There are some of these issues that do not personal affect me yet I care about them because they affect many of the people I know and care about and they will also affect many of the people who have yet to be born. I believe I am part of the society and have benefitted from the investments the society has made in me. Thus, it is only fair for me to evaluate the merits of issues on the basis of their outcomes for the different stakeholder groups. I believe this approach also explains some of the laws that make our society better. For example, the current laws do not allow citizens to drive while under the influence of alcohol. This is because the potential outcomes of such an action also involve people other than the driver. In addition, the potential costs of such a conduct far outweigh any potential benefits. When we consider the outcomes of an action for all the potential stakeholders, we make decisions whose benefits are more likely to outweigh the potential costs. This approach also increases the probability of people acting in a selfless manner.

From the discussion above, any student can now be able to develop a thrilling and top-grade responsibility essay.

Do you have a 1000 word essay on responsibility and wondering where to start? Worry not! Our team of expert writers is ready to offer you cheap but quality writing help. On top of that, you can get a responsibility essay sample for free to get you started.

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Why Responsibility Is So Important

Written by Steve Rose

Identity, purpose, and belonging, 13 comments(s).

With all of the social distancing measures over the last year, we have been repeatedly told by public health officials that it is our responsibility to stay home and flatten the curve.

You are not responsible for the problem, but you now find yourself responsible for part of the solution.

It can be frustrating, it can be isolating, and it might not seem fair.

Although we may sometimes want to resist the calls to take responsibility, consider the other areas of life where you are not responsible for the problem but still need to be part of the solution.

If you’ve experienced trauma leading to mental health issues, you are not responsible for the problem, but you are responsible for being part of the solution.

The same goes for a heredity illness. You are not responsible for the problem, but you are responsible for being part of the solution.

Falling into a victim mindset only serves to strengthen the problem.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, you can check out my  resource page  for suggestions on how to find help.

Table of Contents

What is responsibility?

Responsibility is the ability to respond.

Not paralyzed by fear, plagued by anxiety, or procrastinating, pretending the problem doesn’t exist.

Responsibility means being prepared, but not panicked. It requires planning, but not perfectionistic plots to control the uncontrollable.

Responsibility consists of accepting uncertainty, knowing you will do what you can control, and letting go of the things you cannot.

Responsibility requires a response proportional to the problem, adapting to obstacles as they arise.

The psychologist Jordan Peterson says the physical posture of responsibility is standing up straight with your shoulders back, in 12 Rules for Life :

To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability, and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language).

Why is responsibility important?

Responsibility is important because it provides a sense of purpose, in addition to building resilience amidst adversity on an individual and societal level.

Like an addiction, sidestepping responsibility may feel good in the short-term, but leads to exponentially worse pain and suffering in the long term.

A tiger metaphor by Steven Hayes seems fitting here.

Imagine you adopted a tiger cub into your home. It is cute, cuddly, and harmless. You notice it begins to purr loudly, and the only way you can make it stop is to feed it red meat. Over the months and years, you keep doing this, but the tiger is now several hundred pounds, requiring whole sides of beef. Rather than a cute purr, the tiger roars ferociously for its meat. You are terrified, so you keep giving him the meat so he will leave you alone. The more you feed it, the larger it gets, and the more trapped you become.

In this metaphor, feeding the tiger symbolizes sidestepping your responsibilities. There is temporary relief, but a long term cost. Each time you avoid responsibility, you are feeding the tiger, making the problem larger, giving up long term freedom and control.

Why do people choose to become trapped in troublesome tiger relations? Jordan Peterson explains one potential reason in 12 Rules for Life :

Sometimes, when people have a low opinion of their own worth or, perhaps, when they refuse responsibility for their lives they choose a new acquaintance, of precisely the type who proved troublesome in the past. Such people don’t believe that they deserve any better so they don’t go looking for it. Or, perhaps, they don’t want the trouble of better.”

Let’s go deeper into how low self-worth prevents responsibility and look at how to build a sense of purpose through responsibility to one’s self, one’s family, and one’s society.

Responsibility provides a sense of purpose

Avoiding responsibility destroys a sense of purpose. Purpose comes from a sense of contribution and connection to something larger than yourself. But first, it is necessary to take responsibility for yourself. By being the best version of yourself, you can then be the most helpful to others.

Being responsible for yourself

This requires taking care of your basic needs. In the recovery community, it is common to use the acronym, HALT. Are you hungry, angry, lonely, or tired? Regularly check in on your current state and address deficiencies where appropriate.

Another way to maintain self-responsibility is to organize the clutter in your physical environment and the chaos in your day-to-day life. Prioritize your sleep, nutrition, and exercise. If all of this sounds overwhelming, start small. As Jordan Peterson says, “Clean your damn room!” But as he also says, “Cleaning up your room involves cleaning up far more than your room.”

Doing something useful for yourself is the first step in reorienting yourself amidst the mental fog of purposelessness. As the fog begins to thin out, you can start to see beyond yourself. This leads to step two:

Being responsible within your family 

Once you’re adequately useful to yourself and can help from a place of genuine giving, you can be useful to others close to you.

I mention genuine giving because many people try to be useful to others without addressing their own needs first. This often results in codependent relationships where you do things for others to fill a lack of self-esteem in yourself. It is an experience of toxic shame where we constantly feel the need to prove ourselves and receive external validation. This may feel like “taking responsibility,” but it is often unhelpful and is just feeding the internal tiger, masking underlying issues with self-worth.

See my article The Need to be Needed for an in-depth description of this interpersonal dynamic.

If you’ve worked through these personal areas and can engage in close interpersonal relationships based on genuine heartfelt giving, the next step is this:

Being responsible within the broader society

Being socially responsible can happen in various ways. Right now, it simply means staying home to prevent community spread of the viral infection.

During regular times, being socially responsible might take place in your work, volunteer roles, or leisure activities.

The key to maximizing your social responsibility is contributing in a way that fits your unique personal strengths. For example, if your strengths are working with people, and you value compassion, developing and applying these strengths allows you to maximally contribute socially.  

A lack of fit between your strengths, values, and interests can hinder your level of usefulness in your work, resulting in a low sense of purpose within the role. Finding alignment between your abilities and your role requires first knowing your strengths and cultivating them. 

Not cultivating and applying your unique strengths doesn’t just rob you of a sense of purpose, but it also robs the broader society of your potential contributions.

Conclusion 

Although you may not be responsible for personal or social issues, you are still responsible for being part of the solution.

Avoiding responsibility comes with a short term gain at a long term cost.

Taking responsibility creates long term resilience and a sense of purpose.

This sense of purpose can be fostered by taking responsibility for one’s self by engaging in self-care. Responsibility can also be developed on a familial and societal level, offering a sense of purpose proportional to your ability to contribute your unique abilities.

Fascinated by ideas? Check out my podcast:

Struggling with an addiction.

If you’re struggling with an addiction, it can be difficult to stop. Gaining short-term relief, at a long-term cost, you may start to wonder if it’s even worth it anymore. If you’re looking to make some changes, feel free to reach out. I offer individual addiction counselling to clients in the US and Canada. If you’re interested in learning more, you can send me a message here .

Other Mental Health Resources

If you are struggling with other mental health issues or are  looking for a specialist near you, use the Psychology Today therapist directory  here to find a practitioner who specializes in your area of concern.

If you require a lower-cost option, you can check out BetterHelp.com . It is one of the most flexible forms of online counseling.  Their main benefit is lower costs, high accessibility through their mobile app, and the ability to switch counselors quickly and easily, until you find the right fit.

*As an affiliate partner with Better Help, I receive a referral fee if you purchase products or services through the links provided.

As always, it is important to be critical when seeking help, since the quality of counselors are not consistent. If you are not feeling supported, it may be helpful to seek out another practitioner. I wrote an article on things to consider here .

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13 Comments

you’ve seen me comment on your posts before, dear Steve, commending you on your writing abilities, but you outdo yourself here, standing amongst philosophers, Marcus Aurelius, for instance, Epictetus, eminent moralists, in bringing heart to your strong and disciplined account of “responsibility” – philosophy is perhaps your true dimension, just saying – all the very best, R ! chard

Great to see you on here again, Richard! I remember you used to enjoy my articles on veterans in transition to civilian life. Thank you for such kind words. Hope you are well! Take care.

I really appreciate the focus on personal responsibility. A well-written message that people need to internalize. We are part of the solution, and it is tempting to think that we can ‘bend the rules’ for some want or need, with unintended consequences the result. I will reblog this on my blog.

Thanks Eric! I believe the ethics of Emanuel Kant apply here. Universalize your individual Maxim. In other words, ask yourself, if everyone did the same thing, is that the type of world you would want to live in?

Crikey …. well this hit me rather hard. I’ve been feeding that tiger so long now that I don’t even know quite where to start. Everything you said there makes total sense. I look forward to reading more of your posts although frankly I’m rather worried. I think I’m going to be making some monumental decisions before too long. I wish I could just bury my head in the sand. Thanks for the post. Katie

It is, a collective responsibility for us, as a whole group of living organisms, to prevent the spread of this current outbreak, and, we must all, abide by the rules of the government, not just for our own sake’s, but for the good, of the, entire, human population on the planet.

I think one thing that’s regularly missed in the conversation about “needing to be needed“ is that people who are “more needy” tend to be socially marginalized. So we find ourselves looking after one another because others w needs are the people available to us. (Others in an AA group, for instance) And then other folks further justify our marginalization by defining us as “codependent helpers.” Of course the second thing that’s overlooked is the reality that people are wired to be connected with other people (belonging) and experience ourselves as valuable through those relationships (meaning, purpose). All of which you have written about extensively.

Thank you for sharing this! I completely agree. My article on the need to be needed covers this. I do want to go deeper into the marginalization vs. individual agency dynamic a bit deeper though. Thank you for highlighting this! I am planning on doing an article on the meaning of the serenity prayer to explore this dynamic further.

Steve, I may quote you on this definition, “responsibility is the ability to respond” … so well said! Thank-you, Carole

No problem! Thank you!

I agree 100%. It can be deadly for high risk people. I like your perspective. We have a responsibility, so that we don’t spread it and make it worse, and contribute to the pandemic.

4 or 6 million people out of 7 billion people. Think about that for just a moment, really. That in my opinion does not represent a pandemic. 6 million out of 7 billion is not even 1% of the population. It would have to be 20% or more of 7 billion before I would even to begin the notion of a true pandemic. Break away from the heard. Use your brain,don’t fall into a sheeple existence. Don’t be a chump. All these people putting this much trust in the CDC and the media leaves me feeling like there is no hope for our future. I have to remind myself that it’s really not their fault or anyone’s fault,they have been brainwashed and pre-programmed, unknowingly. You don’t need a psychologist or at least I don’t,to come to that conclusion.

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Essay on Responsibility Of Youth

Students are often asked to write an essay on Responsibility Of Youth in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Responsibility Of Youth

Importance of youth responsibility.

Youth are the future. They have the power to shape the world. It’s important for them to understand their responsibilities. This includes caring for themselves, their families, and their communities. They should also respect the law and the rights of others.

Personal Responsibility

Youth have a duty to take care of their health. This means eating well, exercising, and avoiding harmful habits. They also need to focus on their education. Learning new skills can help them succeed in life.

Family Responsibility

Young people should help their families. They can do chores, take care of siblings, and support their parents. Family is a team, and everyone needs to do their part.

Community Responsibility

Youth should also help their communities. They can volunteer, clean up parks, or help neighbors. By doing these things, they can make their communities better places to live.

Respect for Law and Rights

Finally, youth must respect the law and the rights of others. They should follow rules and treat everyone with kindness. This helps create a peaceful society.

250 Words Essay on Responsibility Of Youth

Introduction.

Youth is a time of energy and potential. It is a time when we can shape our life. As young people, we have many responsibilities. These are not just to ourselves, but also to our families, our communities, and our world.

Responsibility to Self

The first duty of youth is to themselves. They must take care of their health and education. They should eat healthy food, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep. They should also study hard to gain knowledge and skills. This will help them to be successful in the future.

Responsibility to Family

Young people also have a duty to their families. They should respect their parents and elders. They should help with household chores. They should also care for their younger siblings. This helps to strengthen family bonds.

Responsibility to Society

Youth also have a role to play in society. They should be good citizens. They should obey laws and respect authority. They should also help those in need. This can be done by volunteering or donating to charity.

Responsibility to the World

Finally, youth have a responsibility to the world. They should care for the environment. They should also promote peace and understanding among different cultures and religions. This helps to make the world a better place.

In conclusion, youth have many responsibilities. By fulfilling these duties, they can make a positive impact. They can help to shape a better future for themselves and for everyone.

500 Words Essay on Responsibility Of Youth

Youth is a time of energy, growth, and potential. It is a period when we can shape our futures and influence our societies. As young people, we carry a great responsibility. This essay will explore the various responsibilities of youth.

Role in Society

Young people play a critical role in society. They are the leaders of tomorrow, and their actions today will shape the future. They have the responsibility to be informed about world events, local issues, and the needs of their communities. They must participate in social activities, volunteer work, and community service. By doing this, they can contribute to society and make the world a better place.

Education and Learning

Education is another key responsibility of youth. Young people must strive to learn and grow, not only in school but also in life. They should seek knowledge, develop skills, and cultivate curiosity. This will prepare them for future challenges and opportunities. They must also respect their teachers and peers, fostering a positive learning environment for all.

Health and Well-Being

Young people also have a responsibility towards their health and well-being. They should eat healthily, exercise regularly, and avoid harmful habits like smoking or excessive screen time. They should also take care of their mental health, seeking help when needed. By doing this, they can ensure a healthy and productive future.

Respect and Kindness

Respect and kindness are essential responsibilities of youth. Young people should treat others with dignity and respect, regardless of their background or beliefs. They should also show kindness and empathy towards others. This promotes harmony and understanding in society.

Environment Protection

Youth have a vital role in protecting the environment. They should be aware of environmental issues and take steps to reduce their carbon footprint. They can do this by recycling, conserving water, and using renewable energy. They should also advocate for environmental policies and participate in environmental campaigns.

In conclusion, the responsibilities of youth are vast and varied. From contributing to society and pursuing education, to maintaining health, showing respect, and protecting the environment, young people carry a heavy load. Yet, it is through these responsibilities that they can truly make a difference. As they step into adulthood, they carry with them the power to shape the future. It is up to them to use this power wisely, fulfilling their responsibilities and creating a better world for all.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Responsibility For Students
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• Essay on Philosophy On Education

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• Relationships

Love, Responsibility, and Empowerment in Relationships

Relationships work best when these three are developed..

Posted May 10, 2024 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

• Why Relationships Matter
• Find a therapist to strengthen relationships
• High emotional reactivity is a hallmark of unhappy relationships.
• High emotional reactivity rises from chronic resentment and tends to be degenerative.
• We have a responsibility and the power to improve interactions, regardless of who “started it.”
• Responsibility empowers; failure of responsibility disempowers.

High emotional reactivity is a hallmark of bad relationships. When a negative feeling in one partner causes chaos or shut down in the other, emotional reactivity spirals out of control.

Once reactivity becomes habit, the initiating negative feeling may have nothing to do with the partner or the relationship. It can be a reaction to losses in politics , sports, finances, or any number of ego offenses at work. It’s often physiological: irritability from weariness, hunger, diffuse concentration , or discomfort.

Relationships with high emotional reactivity are not necessarily high in conflict. Conflict-avoidant partners tend to argue with cold shoulders instead of raised voices and pointed words.

Regardless of whether the reactivity is loud or silent, one partner is likely to be anxious , the other cynically depressed , with the only visible emotion some form of anger or indifference. They regard each other as opponents more than partners. They develop automatic defenses that activate with neither doing anything wrong. They feel a little tense when their partner comes home or simply walks into the room. Both feel powerless to improve the relationship or focus on what the other should do to improve it.

High emotional reactivity rises from a chain of resentment and tends to be degenerative. It rarely gets better on its own. Only concerted effort can effectively change habituated patterns of interaction.

The Hidden Hurt

When emotional reactivity is high, anything can be a measure of love and a signal of inadequacy as a partner.

“If you loved me, you would do this.” “If you loved me, you wouldn’t ask me to do this.”

Accusations in love carry the implication:

"The way you love isn’t good enough."

But most complaints in love relationships have a hidden plea:

“Please care about me. Show that I matter to you.”

The best way, if not the only way, to get our partners to show that they care about us and we matter to them, is to show that we care about them and they matter to us.

Responsibility Is Power

Empowerment is the ability to make your experience and your life better. In love relationships we have enormous power over the well-being of partners, whether we want it or not. With power goes responsibility. (The exertion of power without responsibility is one definition of abuse.) Responsibility empowers us to improve.

The ultimate relationship empowerment: both partners embrace responsibility to improve negative interactions, regardless of who “started it.”

The alternative is blame , which quickly escalates the intensity, hurt, and frustration of interactions.

Responsibility Is Not Blame

We’re quick to blame our partners for negative interactions, while evading responsibility to improve them. This isn't hypocrisy; it rises from a confusion of responsibility with blame.

Responsibility and blame are mutually exclusive. Blame is about the past; responsibility to improve your well-being lies in the present and future. Blame induces shame , to which we typically react with anger. Accepting responsibility to improve evokes pride and efficacy.

This is a dialogue that clients recorded and sent to me. The couple has a home-based small business, with no physical boundaries between work and family spaces. Physical boundaries help the brain transition from performance-driven, hierarchical work mentality to the egalitarian acceptance-support mentality required of love relationships.

One partner interrupts the other with a work issue.

“We need to talk about this.” “I took care of it!” “Without consulting me?” “It’s taken care of!” “You’re being rude.” “I’m just trying to finish this.” “You need to apologize .” “I’m sorry.” “That wasn’t sincere.” “I’ll apologize better when I finish this.” “You have time to hurt my feelings but not apologize?” “Let me finish this, then I can deal with your feelings.”

The argument escalated with increasing accusations:

“You're abusive!” “You’re too sensitive!”

The interrupting partner left the room in hurt and exasperation. The frustration of the interrupted partner kept him from finishing the task anyway. They went three days without speaking before declaring a temporary truce.

The point isn’t who was right and who was wrong. Neither was assuming responsibility to improve the interaction and their relationship. Partners are human, they make mistakes. High emotional reactivity compounds the mistakes. Responsibility ameliorates them.

If the couple acted on their desire to improve their relationship and all its interactions, it would go something like the following:

“We need to talk about this." “Oh, honey I took care of that.” “Without consulting me?” “I’m sorry, I should have consulted with you first. I was scatter-brained, but I meant no disrespect. I’ll remember in the future.” “I’ll appreciate that.”

If the interrupted partner fails to regulate his frustration about the interruption, the interaction could still improve with something like:

“We need to talk about this.” “I took care of it!” “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, but I’m sensitive to a gruff response.” “No, I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take out my frustration on you. You deserve my attention.”

Both partners would feel better about the interaction. Neither would accuse or indulge in defensiveness. If they practice self-regulation in the future, their relationship will become more secure.

Emotional Abuse

Abuse is a self-regulation matter, not a relationship issue. Abusers are solely responsible for their abusive behavior. There’s no such thing as uncontrollable abuse. No matter how upset they might get, abusers make a choice to hurt their partners, rather than calm themselves.

Unfortunately, the inadvertent consequence of this truth renders victims of abuse powerless over their emotional well-being. If you suffer emotional abuse and choose to stay in the relationship for whatever reason, you can still empower yourself to improve interactions rather than make them worse. But always put safety first, both within the relationship and if you choose to leave it.

The Right to Express Anger

Some couples resist the responsibility to improve because they think it means relinquishing their right to express anger. You have a right to express anger and a responsibility to recognize that expressing anger is devaluing and bound to make the interaction worse.

Note in the third interaction above that the partner expressed the hurt causing her anger, which is apt to get a positive reaction, though not with the certainty that expressing the anger will get a negative one. You have a right to make things better and a right to make things worse.

Relationships improve when we accept that we’re all responsible for improving interactions and that we’re all guilty of escalating them.

To find a therapist near you, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory .

Steven Stosny, Ph.D., treats people for anger and relationship problems. His recent books include How to Improve your Marriage without Talking about It and Love Without Hurt .

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At any moment, someone’s aggravating behavior or our own bad luck can set us off on an emotional spiral that threatens to derail our entire day. Here’s how we can face our triggers with less reactivity so that we can get on with our lives.

• Emotional Intelligence
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• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

Covering Columbia’s Student Protests Gave Me Hope About Journalism’s Future

I t was 2:30 in the morning and our smaller newsroom up on the fifth floor of Pulitzer Hall—the esteemed Graduate School of Journalism building at Columbia University—was pulsating with the sounds of Camp Rock’s “Can’t Back Down.” Jude Taha, a Palestinian journalist in the program, was leading the charge in rallying everyone to sing it with her. The stench of bitter instant coffee wafted throughout the room. Nestled in the corner, Edward Lopez, a photo journalism student, fought valiantly against sleep. He crouched next to his camera, which was perched on a tripod to capture a perfect vantage of our Morningside campus where roughly 70 colorful tents had been sprung up by students to protest Columbia University’s investment in companies profiting from Israel’s military operations in Gaza. In my drowsy haze of half-slumber, the temptation to surrender was strong.

Then, I remembered something one of my mentors had taught me earlier in my first class at journalism school. He had said that many of us will make a career out of making up for all the mistakes those before us have made. And that in those dark moments when outrage becomes a friend, “it [will] be journalism, and your integrity, that helps you soldier on.”

In his 1970 poem, American singer and poet Gil Scott-Heron said that the revolution would never be televised. My colleagues and I bore witness to that revolution. On April 18, Columbia’s J-school students—and many other journalism students around the country—found themselves right in the middle of what had quickly become an escalating and fast-moving breaking news story . For the next two weeks, we became dedicated to documenting the mobilization of pro-Palestinian students on our campus. We were a group of writers, filmmakers, photographers, and data journalists. We worked tirelessly. As some of us rested, others took turns reporting and venturing out to document the encampment on the lawn. We made makeshift beds on the floor, huddled in lightweight sleeping bags, and were sustained by chicken-flavored ramen noodles, dates dipped in chocolate, and stale tortilla chips. But our clarity was resolute: nothing held more significance to us than accurately portraying the truth about why the students' anti-war protests were happening and the core purpose of the encampment’s demands.

It’s no coincidence that the Pulitzer building stands toweringly atop the West lawn, where a perfect view of the encampment was visible at all hours of the day. The crackdown of campus security meant limited access to outside press, and what’s more, many students in the encampment harbored valid fears that their words would be twisted, misrepresented, or worse, cherry picked for a sound bite if they had spoken to the press. So they relied on us to tell their stories—accurately and with empathy.

Read More: What America’s Student Photojournalists Saw at the Campus Protests

I watched as my colleagues Gaia Caramazza, Carla Mende, and Kira Gologorsky, student filmmakers in the documentary program, carried their equipment back and forth, tirelessly shooting the reactions of students, many of whom they had built lasting connections with.

Many of us understood the importance of dedicating hours to engaging with the campers, understanding their stories and embracing their rhythms of life—the usual meal times, music breaks, and downtime routines—and discerning the subtle cues that would foretell impending trouble.

“Please do let the world know,” a Jewish student, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said to me following a Shabbat service in the encampment. “Show them how much love exists here.” Minutes later Muslim students held their evening prayer service. On day eight, I listened as a Palestinian storyteller shared his poetry which concluded with the words: “I have never felt harmony the way I have this past week, here in this camp, united by a shared love for a group of people that many are so desperately trying to erase.”

Slowly, the encampment also became a close-knit community for many of my colleagues and me. The call to prayer reminded Caramazza of her childhood spent in Jordan. The communal food station set up in the corner closest to Butler Library felt like the physical manifestation of the Arabic saying "beity beitak" (my home is your home) for Samaa Khullar, a Palestinian journalist and colleague in the program. For me, it was playing soccer with other students in the encampment, a traditional sport that united almost every community in the Arab world regardless of their background. I came to realize that I had fostered deep care for the encampment’s affiliates. On cold nights, I worried if they had enough blankets to keep them warm. I worried about their families, some of whom were based in Gaza, and the messages they might wake up to the following morning. It was only natural for me as I immersed myself in their shoes, to reflect on the kind of support and compassion communities crave during times of grief. I approached them with an open mind and heart—one that involved dismantling my own barriers to really understand a community that was rupturing and reshaping history in real time. And as much as I thought I knew, there was so much more I didn’t—and would have remained oblivious to—had I failed to build the level of trust these protestors deserved.

My colleagues and I, many of us who had grown up abroad and reported on international communities for much of our time at Columbia, spent days discussing the significance of capturing this moment in history just as it was, and of bearing witness to the daily movements and experiences of those in the encampment. The protestors were not required to allow us into the encampment; that was not a responsibility they needed to shoulder. But just as any good, trauma-informed reporter knows, to tell a story honestly means to establish safe spaces for people to tell their stories at their own pace, a byproduct only made possible through deep listening.

What so many of my J-school colleagues and I yearned to translate to those encroaching upon our turf was that in order to really know what the movement was about, one had to engage with the students by approaching the stories that focused more on the underlying causes and motivations of the encampment, rather than arbitrary violence. For weeks on end, the encampment's residents found themselves at the intersection of both visibility and vulnerability. Students wanted to spotlight the injustices transpiring in Gaza—instead, they became the faces behind a national news story. I watched as their identities and lived experiences quickly became eclipsed by many sensationalist headlines when the reality was far from it.  

Ray (their last name has been kept private for anonymity), for instance, an artist and undergraduate student at Barnard whom I encountered a week into the encampment, dedicated her afternoons to painting portraits of Palestinians in Gaza. Her canvases pulsated with brown hues, chromes, and crimson applied through watercolor ink to stroke the urgency of the situation in Gaza. Ray had just celebrated Passover in the encampment a few days earlier and mentioned the bizarre moment she woke up to find a camera in her face, snapping pictures inside her unzipped tent: “The least they can do is ask, or try to get to know me first.”

It was impossible to have witnessed and reported on the mobilization of students so passionately dedicated to anti-war and liberation efforts, and not be affected by it. The movement demanded a response from each and every one of us of in the student body, And everyone in our newsroom felt it. Our newsroom came to multiple breaking points, but it was also our saving grace. ​​I was of two worlds as both a student and journalist. I knew just how deeply these students were hurting, but I also knew what we had to do in the spirit of journalistic responsibility. And while I have often been told that compassion stands in the way of good journalism, recent weeks have shown me that it is the lack of compassion that gets in the way of real storytelling.

Read More: My Writing Students Were Arrested at Columbia. Their Voices Have Never Been More Essential

Despite the narrative of journalism's decline or saturation with misinformation, watching my J-school colleagues’ collective conscience rise up and solemnly agree to do right by a community so stained by tragedy has reaffirmed to me that there still exists an enduring power of keeping one another safe in this industry. It was all around me when I searched for it. We knew how and where to draw the line of truth versus hysteria that is breached in journalism with little regard, even and most especially, as we reported on our own peers.

Years from now, when the next generation of young journalists are tasked with a duty this arduous (and they will), I trust that they will hold on to the hope and camaraderie that I witnessed firsthand: a spirit of journalism that models the empathy and dignity Gaza’s victims and all vulnerable communities deserved. A journalism that speaks honestly and meaningfully, with context and sensitivity. The type of journalism that does not involve reporting on a community, but rather with and for them.

The encampment is now cleared. Hamilton Hall has been “restored,” and the N.Y.P.D are now stationed at every corner of our campus. The students may not have won, in the traditional sense. But they achieved something much more powerful than that: They globalized the Palestinian saying “Lan Nerhal” (we will not leave). For the first time, students felt they could proudly stride campus walkways wearing the keffiyeh. For the first time, the true depth of the Palestinian struggle was thrust onto the mainstream stage. And my J-school peers made certain that the encampment and its’ cause were not to be covered as a passing trend, but as one steadfast community’s call for immediate action in the face of the destruction in Gaza—one of the most harrowing atrocities many of us have ever seen in our lifetime.

In less than a week, my J-school colleagues and I are graduating. Reflecting on what I learned while covering the encampment, I’ve observed that the best way to tell a story isn’t to parachute in and out of it. Instead, it is to always have a stake in it. Only, then, can we truly understand the crushing impact that our words have on the communities we write about.

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Responsibility as a Theme in Frankenstein Essay

Introduction, thesis statement, frankenstein’s personality, works cited.

The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley appeared in 1818. It describes the problems of modern science and its consequences for humanity. The uniqueness of the novel is that Frankenstein has literary merits to ‘frighten and amaze’ (Mellor 45). There is much historical interest in the work as an example of various strains and aspects of Romanticism (Mellor 45).

Through the character of Victor, Mary Shelley portrays different stages of personal development. He underlines that real maturity is when the person accepts full responsibility for his actions, scientific discoveries, and their impact on humanity.

From the very beginning, Victor, the main character of the novel, is depicted as an immature personality, unable to accept responsibilities for his actions and researches. Only when the creature disappears, Victor jumps to the conclusion that his monster is the murderer of his brother. “I considered the being … nearly in the light of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave and forced to destroy all that was dear to me” (Shelley 2007).

At this point, the unfortunate Victor faces a moral dilemma: should he reveal to the authorities the existence of his dangerous crea­tion? He decides not to and offers two reasons. First, he will be thought mad; second, the creature is too agile to admit capture.

It is worth considering whether these reasons seem adequate to explain Vic­tor’s silence, which protects both the monster and himself (Peterfreund 79). “His position is rendered still more reprehensible when he returns to his family and discovers that the innocent Justine is accused of the murder, that she will be tried that very day and that the evidence against her looks damning” (Mellor 75). Still, Victor does nothing to save Justine and unveil his terrible secrets.

Fears and lack of courage are the main factors that prevent Victor from accepting responsibility for his actions and behavior. In general, a mature personality can answer for the consequences of his actions and behavior. In contrast, Victor finds his task increasingly revolting and begins to think of argu­ments against the responsibilities of a scientist. He fears that his creatures might breed and people the planet with monsters.

He speaks of the false but persuasive arguments. For instance, Justine is condemned to death, and after the trial, it is revealed that she has confessed her guilt (but she is not guilty) (Mellor 38). Victor explains: “I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation” (Shelley). When things go wrong, Victor understands that he cannot control his creation and is helpless to prevent his murders.

The turning point of the novel comes when Victor destroys his new creature, horrified by unpredictable consequences. When Victor feels ill, he confesses himself guilty of murdering William, Justine, and Clerval, thus associating himself yet again with the deeds of the monster.

He is in prison, but Mr. Kirwin is a good-natured and under­standing man who does his best to help the sick man (Mellor 40). He brings Victor’s father to him, and Victor is at length acquitted of Clerval’s murder. “I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct” (Shelley 2007). He speaks of his original benevolence and the miserable loneliness of his condition.

In sum, through the character of Victor, Shelley portrays that a person matures when he can accept responsibilities for his actions and their consequences. When Victor ‘matures’ and admits his guilt, he understands that freedom has no value to him, the world has no comforts for any unfortunate soul who bears guilt and remorse within him.

Mellor, Anne Mary Shelley: Her Life Her Fiction Her Monsters. New York: Routledge, 1989.

Peterfreund, S. Composing What May Not Be “Sad Trash”: A Reconsideration of Mary Shelley’s Use of Paracelsus in Frankenstein. Studies in Romanticism 43 (2004): 79.

Shelley, M. Frankenstein, 2007.

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IvyPanda. (2024, May 3). Responsibility as a Theme in Frankenstein. https://ivypanda.com/essays/responsibility-as-a-theme-in-frankenstein/

"Responsibility as a Theme in Frankenstein." IvyPanda , 3 May 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/responsibility-as-a-theme-in-frankenstein/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Responsibility as a Theme in Frankenstein'. 3 May.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Responsibility as a Theme in Frankenstein." May 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/responsibility-as-a-theme-in-frankenstein/.

1. IvyPanda . "Responsibility as a Theme in Frankenstein." May 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/responsibility-as-a-theme-in-frankenstein/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Responsibility as a Theme in Frankenstein." May 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/responsibility-as-a-theme-in-frankenstein/.

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