Responsibility and Freedom

3Development of Freedom

3.1. The centrality of freedom

The fact that the theoretical variations of the concept of responsibility all presume a concomitant conception of freedom is not, in my opinion, mere chance. With modernity, the concept of freedom has become the pivotal criterion to judge the level of justice in a society, and the criterion of responsibility and freedom that has been brought about implicitly by the conceptions mentioned in the previous chapter to be fertile as it enables us to reach a double objective [TAY 92, ROS 08, HON 14a, HON 14b]¹. On the one hand, we can anchor our theory of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) on solid ground for legitimization. On the other hand, we can achieve the efficacy we need because the actualization of freedom is also the pragmatic objective of each individual.

Freedom has resisted all the historical vicissitudes of modernity without ever losing its force, but on the contrary, continually evolving in new and more articulated forms. We can, of course, identify several perspectives and conceptions of freedom that emphasize one aspect or another. It seems to me, however, that it should be considered as a condition of the possibility of establishing a just society. At a more abstract level, I believe freedom can be justified as fundamental criterion of a theory of democracy given its polysemy and basic value [HON 14a, DEW 54]. I also maintain that numerous other normative assumptions arise from freedom, especially individual ...