Print Email Facebook Twitter The Problem of Many Hands: Climate Change as an Example Title The Problem of Many Hands: Climate Change as an Example Author Van de Poel, I. Fahlquist, J.N. Doorn, N. Zwart, S. Royakkers, L. Faculty Technology, Policy and Management Department Values and Technology Date 2011-05-01 Abstract In some situations in which undesirable collective effects occur, it is very hard, if not impossible, to hold any individual reasonably responsible. Such a situation may be referred to as the problem of many hands. In this paper we investigate how the problem of many hands can best be understood and why, and when, it exactly constitutes a problem. After analyzing climate change as an example, we propose to define the problem of many hands as the occurrence of a gap in the distribution of responsibility that may be considered morally problematic. Whether a gap is morally problematic, we suggest, depends on the reasons why responsibility is distributed. This, in turn, depends, at least in part, on the sense of responsibility employed, a main distinction being that between backward-looking and forward-looking responsibility. Subject responsibilitytechnology engineeringproblem of many handscollective responsibilityclimate change To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:cb9b1243-81a2-4be1-b52d-98b1f2ac0035 DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-011-9276-0 Publisher Springer ISSN 1353-3452 Source Science and Engineering Ethics, 18 (1), 2012 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights (c) 2011 The Author(s) Files PDF vandePoel_2011.pdf 228.48 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:cb9b1243-81a2-4be1-b52d-98b1f2ac0035/datastream/OBJ/view