Collective Responsibility, Epistemic Action and Climate Change

Abstract

This article undertakes four tasks: (1) outline a theory of joint action, including multi-layered structures of joint action characteristic of organizational action; (2) utilize this theory to elaborate an account of joint epistemic action – joint action directed to the acquisition of knowledge, e.g. a team of scientists seeking to discover the cause of climate change; (3) outline an account of collective moral responsibility based on the theory of joint action (including the account of joint epistemic action); (4) apply the account of collective moral responsibility to the issue of human-induced, harmful, climate change with a view to illuminating both retrospective responsibility for causing the harm and also prospective responsibility for addressing the problem in terms of mitigation and/or adaptation.