Agency and Blame

The ability to help ourselves doesn’t mean we’re to blame if we try and fail to do so.

There’s a common sentiment — usually uttered with good intent — that goes something like this: it isn’t their fault because they couldn’t help it. That by itself is true enough;. if you are powerless then you have no culpability — you’re blameless.

What if you do have power, though? It’s easy, common, and false to think that having power implies blame. Having agency — and the power to act on it — does not mean that we are necessarily to blame, and it’s harmful to believe otherwise. How often have you heard or taken part in this conversation:

Person 1: You can seek treatment and get better!

Person 2: Oh, so you’re saying it’s my fault that I’m sick?

This conclusion might seem like a logical extension of the sentiment in the first paragraph, but it does not follow and is not true. For example, consider a person sitting in a house which has caught fire due some act of nature, perhaps lightning or faulty wiring. The person is now in mortal danger. They do have the power to possibly save themselves if they take action such as leaping out a window, but this does not mean the fire is their fault.

Even if the fire consumed them they would not be to blame for the fire — they didn’t start it, it was not their…