Ontological Responsibility

“The first thing we learn as children is that our acts are under our control (personal responsibility). The next is that not everything we can do, we may do (moral responsibility). The next stage is the realisation that we have a duty not just to ourselves but to those on whom we have an influence (collective responsibility). Ultimately we learn that morality is not a mere human convention, but is written into the structure of existence. There is an Author of being, therefore there is an Authority beyond humankind to whom, when acting morally, we respond (ontological responsibility).”

A Drama in Four Acts (Noach, Covenant & Conversation)