39. The Limits Of Responsibility

Where does my responsibility begin and end? I know I am responsible for my actions and everything that is directly caused by them. If I do something that directly harms someone, then I am responsible for that harm.

In many cases, I will not be the sole cause of a particular outcome. But even so, my responsibility is not reduced because responsibility is not quantitative. Either I am responsible or I am not. My responsibility might be shared with others, but this does not exempt me in any way.

Insofar as I make choices at all, I am responsible. Not just because of the consequences my particular choice produces, but because the very act of choosing itself creates responsibility. Every choice I make influences the choices of others, and it can also reduce the range of choices available to them. In the same way, the choices that others make also influence and limit the choices available to me. My freedom limits the freedom of others, and their freedom simultaneously limits mine.

I am forced to make choices in every moment of my conscious experience. And every choice I make creates a limit on the freedom of others that I am responsible for. It follows from this that my responsibility is unbounded. It is unbounded because my freedom is unbounded. I can always make a choice — even when it feels like I cannot — and so I am always free. If I am always free, then I am always responsible. In the end, freedom and responsibility are actually the same thing.