Varieties of responsibility: two problems of responsible innovation
Summary. This paper examines what responsibilities innovators actually bear toward society and stakeholders. The authors identify two core problems: first, innovation involves many agents and unpredictable causal chains, making it hard to assign responsibility fairly; second, backward-looking blame for failures can discourage forward-looking learning. They resolve these tensions by distinguishing between holding innovators responsible and their willingness to take responsibility, and by clarifying that responsibility applies to both innovation processes and outcomes. Accountability and virtue-based responsibility matter most.
Cite this article
Poel, I. V. D., & Sand, M.. (2018). Varieties of responsibility: two problems of responsible innovation. Synthese. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-01951-7
Poel, Ibo van de, and Martin Sand. “Varieties of responsibility: two problems of responsible innovation.” Synthese, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-01951-7.
Poel, Ibo van de, and Martin Sand. 2018. “Varieties of responsibility: two problems of responsible innovation.” Synthese. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-01951-7.
@article{poel-2018-varieties-responsibility-two-problems-responsible,
title = {Varieties of responsibility: two problems of responsible innovation},
author = {Ibo van de Poel and Martin Sand},
journal = {Synthese},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1007/s11229-018-01951-7},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-01951-7}
}
TY - JOUR TI - Varieties of responsibility: two problems of responsible innovation AU - Ibo van de Poel AU - Martin Sand JO - Synthese PY - 2018 DO - 10.1007/s11229-018-01951-7 UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-01951-7 ER -
Details
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11229-018-01951-7
- Countries
- Netherlands
- Regions
- Europe
- Categories
- innovation-theory, general-innovation
- Added
- 2026-04-28