Events and Accountability

Abstract

What was the cause? Is anyone responsible? Who is to blame? These are the first questions asked after a misfortune or a moral affront. The event itself could be as privately experienced as a lovers’ quarrel or as public as technological failure at a nuclear power generating plant; it could have been produced carelessly or after careful premeditation; its consequences could be as ephemeral as momentary chagrin or as terrible as widespread destruction and loss of life. Whatever their other features, negative events demand explanation, a demand frequently satisfied by finding someone who is answerable for the occurrence. How that search proceeds is the topic of this book.