Responsibility Design. Consuming as Moral Action

Consumption has been increasingly interpreted as an action for some time now, thus elevating it to something that is subject to the ‘principle of responsibility’ just like other forms of action. However, this understanding of consumption initially threatens to lead to even more resource consumption and environmental pollution. Because the better social, political or ecological responsibility can be demonstrated—as particularly valuable—especially through (often newly developed) variants of consumption, the more is also consumed. The article discusses what an alternative responsibility design could look like. It is discussed whether a duty ethics in the sense of Hans Jonas is not superior to the value ethics prevailing in today’s consumerism.