Abstract

In the first part of this essay, the author provides a theoretical framework on responsibility. The word appeared in the modern era, together with the emerging of a new type of individual versus the traditional one. In the second part, she focuses on the concept of responsibility, starting from the experience of coronavirus. During the pandemic, it has been among the most used words and it appeared as a multiform concept that includes respect, liberty, relationship, care, accountability, and as a basic principle of democratic life. It includes especially a form of reciprocity in care and respect. An interesting interweaving between legal obligation and moral responsibility as self-persuasion eventually arises. Human vulnerability emerged together with the necessity of responsibility as mutual concern and care of Earth. It comes out as a peculiar concept, which represents a coincidence of opposites, as autonomy and limit, freedom and bonds, rights and duties.