Taking Responsibility: Comparative Perspectives

Responsibility has become the "queen of modern virtues," Winston Davis argues, even if there is no consensus as to what responsibility means. This illuminating collection of essays encompasses conceptions of responsibility around the globe, as discussed by leading scholars in the fields of philosophy, anthropology, intellectual history, religious studies, classics, and law. Including "Law as Response to Thou" by Walter Brueggemann, "Jewish Philosophers after Heidegger: Levinas and Jonas on Responsibility" by Lawrence Vogel, "The American Founders' Responsibility" by Ralph Lerner, and "Religious Freedom and Civic Responsibility" by Amy Gutmann, Taking Responsibility provides a rich dialogue of diverse voices describing the many historical senses of responsibility as well as the vastly different approaches to being responsible that we experience in the modern world.

Winston Davis is the Jessie Ball DuPont Professor of Religion at Washington and Lee University.