Agency in systems: A challenge for ethics and justice

The concept of agency is fundamental to standard theories of ethics and justice, but is challenged in some fundamental ways by systems perspectives on human action. Equally, those who design, implement and even simply use systems find themselves forced to confront ethical dilemmas and an apparent deficit of moral responsibility. This paper maintains that ethicists can benefit from developing notions of agency that take account of the structural and dynamic contexts of action within systems, while at the same time those involved in implementing and using systems need to find ways of addressing the deficits of agency and responsibility.