Responsibility for-the-Other: The heavy weight of care

Abstract

This article is based on a talk presented to the Society of Existential Analysis conference in 2023. This paper challenges the Sartrean view that responsibility remains at the level of the individual, a for-itself experience, and argues that the responsibility that one holds for another, for-the-Other, is far greater than that which we hold for ourselves. These ontological ideas are explored through an ontic lens drawing on examples from research. The article also examines the concept of ‘care’ and how it is also inextricably linked to responsibility.