jsweiss@mail.utexas.edu (Judith Weiss) quotes Phil Agre <pagre@weber.ucsd.edu> :
>>...Another example of authoritarian culture is the contemporary American
>>use of the word "accountability". Accountability, we are told, means
>>"accepting the consequences of your actions". Everyone is supposed >to
>"be accountable", and to embrace this condition as a concomitant of
>>responsible adulthood. Authority here is hidden through a grammatical
>>device....
I like to use the term "accountability" without regard to the object. In
other words, if I act in an accountable way, I can stand the scrutiny of
my actions and beliefs regardless of who may be viewing them (as long as
they are properly taken in context!). This gets around the necessity to
impute authority to the term.
Similarly, I distinguish "responsibility" as my being accountable for the
actions of others, again without regard to which authority may be the
object. This makes the terms richer and more personal in my world view.
FWIW...IMHO....Keith
K. Cowan - President - YTI
<a href="http://OurWorld.CompuServe.Com/HomePages/YTI">YTI Web Site</a>
Created at 7:45 AM, on Tuesday, November 19, 1996 with WinCIM EMail/Assist
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>