Risk Society and Responsibility Ethics:Resolving the Challenge of"Organized Irresponsibility"in Nuclear Deterrence
Nuclear deterrence is a typical manifestation reflecting inherent contradictions within the risk society,and it elucidates the repercussions of human empowerment on social dynamics.This article endeavors to formulate an ethical framework that aligns collective moral responsibility with individual moral responsibility.The primary aim is to explore theoretical resolutions for the quandary of"organized irresponsibility"within nuclear deterrence.This pursuit holds substantial theoretical and practical significance,contributing to a critical examination of the responsibility system within the risk society and serving to preempt the risks associated with nuclear warfare.The intricacy in allocating responsibility for nuclear deterrence,coupled with the asymmetry inherent in the responsibility structure and the non-linearity characterizing responsibility relationships,renders the linear causal chain of actions susceptible to fragmentation.The indirect,dispersed,and potentialized connections between actions and their outcomes can lead to the concealment of responsible entities,giving rise to the predicament of"organized irresponsibility".The challenges pertaining to responsibility in nuclear deterrence manifest in two aspects;first,the difficulty in discerning individual responsibility within collective actions,and second,the challenge of assigning responsibility for action outcomes based on nonlinear relationships.The moral underpinnings of"organized irresponsibility"in the risk society originate from objective impacts where the risk society impinges upon the human moral responsibility system,but subjective limitations arise in the attribution of responsibility due to certain ingrained modes of human moral thinking.A potential avenue for resolving the quandary of"organized irresponsibility"lies in actively confronting the risk society and transcending the prevailing moral responsibility attribution model reliant on action outcomes,linear causal relationships,and individualism.Indeed,the ethic of responsibility encapsulates theoretical resources pertaining to both collective moral responsibility and individual moral responsibility.These resources prove instrumental in overcoming the dependency on action outcomes,linear causality,and individualism that contribute to instances of"organized irresponsibility".The attribution of responsibility for"organized irresponsibility"in nuclear deterrence is rooted in action;however,from the perspective of the actor,the subject ought to bear both collective and individual moral responsibility.This article's conclusions are twofold.First,it substantiates the significance of collective moral responsibility for nuclear deterrence based on"joint commitments".Collective moral responsibility is borne by the collective due to the independence of joint commitments,as well as by individuals owing to their participation in these shared commitments.Second,it assesses the correlation of moral responsibility through"collective moral agency".The stronger the collective moral agency of the actor,the more robust the collective moral responsibility.Similarly,the stronger the individual's moral agency,the more pronounced the individual moral responsibility within the collective.Hence,nuclear deterrence actors should shoulder collective moral responsibility for"the integrality of humanity and the future"based on joint commitments.Simultaneously,they should bear individual moral responsibilities such as role responsibility,forward-looking responsibility,and care responsibility,all of which are grounded in moral agency.These actors are obligated to ensure the security of non-nuclear states together with that of their own countries by continually augmenting their sense of responsibility.They should uphold prudence concerning future risks to avert nuclear war,safeguard the survival and future-oriented integrity of the human race,and preserve human freedom and dignity.
万方数据
