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Responsibility: A Theory of Action Between Care for the World, Ethology, and Art

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Protecting the Mind

Part of the book series: Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment ((ETHICSSCI,volume 49))

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Abstract

This essay explores the concept of responsibility with respect to today’s ecological and pandemic crisis. It identifies a fundamental category in “strategic repentance,” that is the ability to reconsider prior decisions based on the environmental feedback resulting from one’s activities. The model of this judicious and repentant behaviour can be traced back, on the one hand, to the animal kingdom, and, on the other hand, to the artistic domain. Thus, both a bat and Michelangelo can be viewed as masters of a new action scheme, based on feedback loops and in-progress revision of previously adopted strategies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Please see the introduction to the Italian edition of Botha (2006, 3).

  2. 2.

    I have drawn inspiration and references about the phenomenon of improvisation from Bertinetto (2009).

  3. 3.

    This is what, speaking in the first person, Michelangelo apparently told his friend Bartolommeo Ammanniti (Clements 1954, 301).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, Università Di Torino, Turin, Italy

    Gianluca Cuozzo

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  1. Gianluca Cuozzo
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Correspondence to Gianluca Cuozzo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile

    Pablo López-Silva

  2. Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Luca Valera

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Cuozzo, G. (2022). Responsibility: A Theory of Action Between Care for the World, Ethology, and Art. In: López-Silva, P., Valera, L. (eds) Protecting the Mind. Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment, vol 49. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94032-4_6

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