Let us turn now to the second set of issues that are central to the general theory of responsibility. We have looked at the importance of our concern for each other and what we accordingly need to do. It will be seen that in order to act appropriately on our concern for each other, we also need to be aware what will help or hinder others in practice. To differentiate responsibly between what merits belief or not, we need to be prepared to take account of the reasons and evidence put forward by others, as we would want them to be prepared to take account of the reasons and evidence put forward by us.
Cooperative Enquiry: our reasoning with each other
Human knowledge has been advanced through cooperative enquiry, exemplified by the empirical exchange and examination of information in scientific research, legal due process, and impartial public inquiry. It would clearly be self-defeating if all sides were to throw in groundless declarations or incoherent assertions. Cooperative enquiry requires logical and testable information to be brought together and scrutinised openly to see what stands up best at any given time and thus warrants assent. To act responsibly, we need to ascertain the veracity of conflicting claims, which involves being ready to give defensible reasons, listen and respond, and revise views in the light of verifiable evidence; and this approach requires all sides to engage in a mutually receptive mode of reasoning.
The Problem of Ignorance
Misunderstanding, confusion, deception, lack of information can mean that what people do may have very different effects from what they anticipate. Although it is often said that ignorance is no defence, that is only relevant where there is a clear obligation for people to find out about the implications of certain behaviour before they engage in it (for example, people cannot shrug off responsibility by deliberately not checking if certain activities would break the law when they know they should check; nor can responsibility for any harm resulting from drunken behaviour be bypassed when it is common knowledge how excessive alcohol consumption can lead to injurious actions). In all other situations where ignorance of the relevant facts cannot be avoided or foreseen, responsibility would be nullified. However, efforts to improve our knowledge and understanding will encounter obstacles from, for example, philosophical sceptics/relativists who deny there is any basis for distinguishing truth from falsehood; those who are overwhelmed by irrationality as a result of psychological or physiological damages; or fanatic followers of cults or dogmas who recoil from objective examination of their beliefs.
Cognitive Thoughtfulness
Ignorance can be reduced through the cultivation of cognitive thoughtfulness on two levels. For people who are open to learning, we should ensure education for all ages enhance their understanding of and skills in assessing rival claims and settling disagreement. They should be familiarised with how assertions, from ones about everyday occurrence to those putting forward complex theories, are subject to exchange of observation, evidence and arguments so that they can be accepted provisionally, revised or rejected. Supplementing direct enquiry would be indirect evaluation of claims made by a given authority or expert, based on the latter’s track record in complying with cooperative enquiry. For those whose minds seem closed to cooperative enquiry, we should connect their ‘unquestionable’ assumptions to experiences of events that may lead them to think again. By enabling them to live through what their dogmas or prejudices insist could not possibly happen, they could be brought round to re-examining what they think they ‘know’. Another effective technique is to link their deepest interests to trying out what would in practice achieve them – for example, discovering how science-based medication rather than superstitious rituals help their loved ones recover from serious sickness.
Objectivity as a Socio-Political Goal
Aside from minimising ignorance amongst individuals, there are many societal obstacles to cooperative enquiry that should be tackled. We need to promote objectivity across communities by means of: [a] the teaching and application of collaborative learning in all organisations, so that people working together can discover and appreciate how reliable claims are established through mutual testing and revision; [b] the establishment of systems for critical reviews with trained investigators and evaluators to oversee their operation, so that claims invalidated by new findings can be identified and put aside, while hitherto unaccepted claims can be reassessed as dependable if new evidence or conceptualisation warrants such a change; and [c] the support for responsible communication through the dissemination of up to date information, and the necessary regulation and enforcement to prevent false and deceptive communication that subverts ‘freedom of speech’ into a shield for vicious lies and egregious manipulation.
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To be continued in ‘The General Theory of Responsibility: (part 3)’: https://henry-tam.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-general-theory-of-responsibility_21.html.
For ‘The General Theory of Responsibility (part 1)’, go to: https://henry-tam.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-general-theory-of-responsibility.html
For an overview of the theory and a guide to further reading, go to: https://hbtam.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-general-theory-of-responsibility.html
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