5.2 Basic dialogue structure of responsibility

First of all, responsibility is a dialogue-based principle. This means that at least two actors are needed for a responsibility structure to emerge. Person A asks person B a question that begins with the question word "Why?" and person B provides a response. We can therefore say that person B "responds to" person A's question. The word responsibility contains the word response. Responsibility is therefore a reaction (from person B) to a question; and at the same time responsibility is the request (from person A to B) to answer a question. In this structure, two people are in a relationship of responsibility. It is in the nature of things that (controversially discussed) questions of responsibility are primarily questions with a moral or ethical quality. Although the simple question "What time is it?" is also subject to this basic structure, serious problems and disputes are unlikely to arise from the correct answer to this question. Nevertheless, there are also other forms of responsibility, such as the responsibility for tasks or positions, which is linked to the function that a person occupies.

The further structure of the concept of responsibility can be explained from the basic dialogue structure of responsibility with at least two actors who respond to each other. In a context of responsibility there always needs to be a subject of responsibility: Who is responsible? There is also an object of responsibility: What is responsibility being requested for? And finally, an authority is needed against which responsibility is measured: To whom is one responsible?

To summarise, every relationship of responsibility can be described with the following formal question: "Who is responsible for what and to whom?" And last but not least, the question of why must be asked: "Why does person A demand a response from person B?" This last question refers to the contexts that justify the fact that person B can be held accountable at all. The following figure illustrates this connection.

 Fig. 5.1: Basic structure of responsibility