Overview
Answerability in philosophical discourse refers to the responsibility an agent has in providing rational justifications for their actions. For instance, an animal can’t articulate a reason for its actions, so even though we can attribute actions to it and deliver consequences as a form of accountability to learn from, so it might not make sense to assign moral responsibility to it. Similarly, a toddler can’t provide a moral justification or reason for their actions as they lack the cognitive ability to consider abstract ethical principles, even if they can understand agency and consequences. Of course, there are plenty of grey areas and subjective evaluations when we apply this to adults who have at some point had the capacity to evaluate ethical principles.