SIR, —Freud and his successors may have shown that reason plays
an insignificant part in the creation and sustaining of responsibility, as Brian Inglis argues. But the effect of the application of modern psychiatric theories is surely an extension of rational respon- sibility, by bringing irrational motives for behaviour to light and thus enabling the reason to extend its control over a person's actions.
There is the further point that expecting people to behave irresponsibly will have the effect of making them behave more irresponsibly than they would were they treated as persons fully responsible for their actions. Incidentally, the whole concept of respon- sibility hinges upon the idea of being responsible to someone or something it is a relationship. The decay of belief in the Last Judgment, of each man having at the end of his life to answer for all his actions, undoubtedly encourages the growth of irre- sponsible behaviour, for substitutes such as public opinion or the individual conscience do not bear the same finality or authority.
Finally, in this matter a clear distinction needs to be drawn between excuse and justification, A man's early environment, or the particular temptations to which he has been subjected, may excuse his actions, but it cannot justify them.—Yours faithfully,
ROBERT NOWELL
129 Leicester. Road, New Barnet, Hens
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