... responsible that we judge them for their actions, be it through praise or gratitude, criticism or contempt, and we also feel pride or shame in our own actions or achievements as we believe we are responsible for them; we take 'responsible beings more seriously than those we identify as 'nonresponible'.iii This view can however be challenged, once we try to establish what exactly it is that leads us to hold someone responsible for their actions, when taking into account the many circumstances that already exist where we do not attribute responsibility. Wolf gives the examples of dogs and cats, young children, the insane and severely mentally retarded adultsiv as those which we do not regard as responsible beings though they may have potentially effective wills; the dog learns to be house trained through the coercion of its owner, but one would not describe it as responsible for fouling the pavement, ...

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