2022 Spring Hum Behavior & Soc Environment II SEC.01

2022 Spring Hum Behavior & Soc Environment II SEC.01

This discussion below seeks to provide answers on whether in any way, we are responsible for the actions of our ancestors, and the credibility of holding people accountable for the things done by their ancestors.

Ways, if any, of Our Responsibility for Actions Done by Our Ancestors

A simple fact about responsibility is that it matters, with each person owning another the duty of care (Healey et al., 2018). However, some questions arise on the standard and degree of care owed. It comes therefore that the question of the atrocities committed by our haunt us in our living today. On two separate scales, this question can either be an ethical or political order. Different conceptual outlooks can be derived from the definition of the question of responsibility. Ethically, it would not be right to make a person liable for the actions of their ancestors who lived generations ago. The amount of time that passed does not need to affect the way of life or liability owed to another. There is no reason whatsoever to blame me for the fact that my ancestors took part in slavery. If it is not in my willful intention to do so today, then there is no connection to the different lifetimes.

According to Marsoobian (2009), there is no logic in holding the current generation for the pretty human history of injustice and victimization. Regardless of the level of the acceptance of responsibility, there is no plausible justification for being accountable for the activities which were way back beyond my existence. There, however, might be a possible shift in the type of responsibility we can assume from the actions of our ancestors. Thinking of it from the social context, each person owes a responsibility to another for the atrocities committed by our ancestors. In this manner, we can say that the solution of the differences that resulted in the disunity and evil deeds between the ancestors be a lesson to the present generation that creates a sense of harmony between every person regardless of race, gender, or another societal context.

The Credibility of Holding People Accountable for Actions Done by Their Ancestors.

There is a need for a collective responsibility for the social injustices that took place in the past. Through the associated aspirations, it might seem that the problems encountered during the ancestral periods should be the motivation today to make society a better place for every person. Kukathas (2003) provides that in as much as there exists the activities of the indigenous people affected the sympathy of the society, there is enough justification for problems that existed before which are connected to justice rectification. As such, in as much as there are regrets on the destruction of the harmful culture of our ancestors, there is no regard to the accountability of the immoralities of the past. An example of this case is the white people being blamed for their ancestors being harsh to the blacks. There is no justification to judge people with the standards that existed a long time back. No accountability should be forced on anybody on the actions of historical nature.

Undeniably it is not a case to be discussed regarding the concept of responsibility for the perceptions of the past (Jha, 2021). The consideration of the previous generations’ actions makes us still enslaved with the ideas of the aforementioned ancestors. In any case, there may exist responsibility standards, then discussions concerning the standards being adopted must be reliant on the solution of more primary issues regarding the political aspect of an ancestral-living relationship. There is no sagacity in indulging in the issues of the past for which we are far away from blame. The fact that there were injuries caused by our ancestors between themselves does not mean there is responsibility for the virtue of suffering for being the generation of the victims of the people affected by the injuries. 

References

Healey, J. F., Stepnick, A., & Eileen, O. (2018). Race, ethnicity, gender, and class: The sociology of group conflict and change. Sage Publications.

Jha, S. R. (2021). Traveling with Our Ancestors: An Advent Devotional. Chalice Press.

Kukathas, C. (2003). Responsibility for past injustice: how to shift the burden. Politics, philosophy & economics, 2(2), 165-190.

Marsoobian, A. T. (2009). Acknowledging Intergenerational Moral Responsibility in the Aftermath of Genocide. Genocide Studies and Prevention, 4(2), 211-220.