Panopticism and Complicity

Causeless complicity

I argue, contrary to standard claims, that accomplice liability need not be a causal relation. One can be an accomplice to another’s crime without causally contributing to the criminal act of the principal. This is because the acts of aid and encouragement that constitute the basis for accomplice liability typically occur in contexts of underand over-determination, where causal analysis is conf...

The Power of Panopticism

The concept of power has been debated among philosophers for as long as humans have been able to record. What makes someone or something powerful, and what exactly does that mean to us as individuals? Michel Foucault provides a glimpse at one aspect of power in his article, Panopticism. Here, he provides a definition for the " Panopticon: " an all-seeing individual or institution, which may or ...

Book Discussion Consumer Complicity and Labor Exploitation

Are consumers in high-income countries complicit in labor exploitation when they buy good produced in sweatshops? To focus attention we consider cases of labor exploitation such as those of exposing workers to very high risks of irreversible diseases, for instance, by failing to provide adequate safety equipment. If I purchase a product made under such conditions, what is my part in this exploi...

Moore on Causing, Acting, and Complicity

Understanding corporate responsibility: culture and complicity.

Kipnis's fictional account of the televised treatment of Elaine Robbins clearly shows the surgeon's negligence (Kipnis 2011). The problems with Anodyne's support for the telesurgery breakfast are harder to discern, but show up clearly when we take into consideration how surgical evidence is generated, evaluated, and used by surgeons. Current evidentiary practices in surgery have two major weakn...