Higher-Order Responsibility

TL;DR

This paper examines whether higher-order responsibility can close the responsibility gap in group decision-making and proves that determining this is computationally complex, specifically _{2d+1}-complete.

Contribution

It introduces a formal analysis of higher-order responsibility in ethics, establishing the computational complexity of assessing its sufficiency to address responsibility gaps.

Findings

Deciding higher-order responsibility up to degree d is _{2d+1}-complete.

Highlights the computational challenges in applying higher-order responsibility in ethical decision-making.

Provides a formal framework for evaluating responsibility in group settings.

Abstract

In ethics, individual responsibility is often defined through Frankfurt's principle of alternative possibilities. This definition is not adequate in a group decision-making setting because it often results in the lack of a responsible party or "responsibility gap''. One of the existing approaches to address this problem is to consider group responsibility. Another, recently proposed, approach is "higher-order'' responsibility. The paper considers the problem of deciding if higher-order responsibility up to degree $d$ is enough to close the responsibility gap. The main technical result is that this problem is $\Pi_{2d+1}$-complete.