How Free Will Shapes Self‑Respect and Responsibility |
Responsibility is a recognition of free will.
Self-respect arises when a person accepts responsibility.
Self-reflection recognizes and affirms that choices have consequences.
Agency involves authority over thoughts, words, responses, behaviors, and choices.
Self-respect is important in the same way that self-reflection, self-belief, self-efficacy, self-confdence and self-esteem are important. This universal significance is supported in the central claim of Responsibility Theory: “You are responsible for, and you’ve got the power over what you think, do, say, learn, and choose.” This statement concerns the self as a rational agent capable of initiating and directing moral thought, action, and ethical conduct reflectively and responsibly.
As such, responsibility is the recognition that our actions are not accidents of circumstance but expressions of our free will. When we accept responsibility and........