Abstract

Introduction -- The civilian participants -- The normative question -- As a matter of transitional justice -- Responsibility of vulnerable participants -- Methodological issues -- The Cultural Revolution and Its Aftermath -- Introduction -- Seeds of social and political discontent -- Supremacy of the revolutionary ideal -- The need of continuing revolution -- Chairman Mao as an infallible and invincible authority -- Mass participation in the use of violence -- Violence provoked and reinforced -- Persecution and struggle against close acquaintances -- Transition after the Cultural Revolution -- Limitations of the transition -- The Complexity of Moral Responsibility: Multiple dimensions of responsibility ascription -- Different senses of responsibility ascription -- Different understandings of the essence of responsibility ascription -- Different accounts of the condition of responsibility ascription -- Two faces of responsibility ascription -- Distinction between judgment and treatment in responsibility ascription -- Two sides of responsibility ascription -- A more adequate framework of responsibility ascription -- Moral Responsibility of the Sincere Participants in Cultural Revolution: examination of peculiar cultural context as an excusing factor -- Introduction -- Cases of sincere participants -- The claims and arguments of the sincere participants -- How homogenous was the prevailing culture? -- How should we understand culture? -- Authority of the prevailing culture: should we take culture for granted? -- Cultural impediment, vulnerability and responsibility ascription -- Responsibility ascription in spite of vulnerability -- Concluding remarks -- Coercive Environment as an Excusing Factor in Responsibility Ascription: a critical assessment -- Introduction -- Cases of reluctant participants and the claims they made Information Classification: General -- Choice, coercion, and responsibility -- Fair burden, social expectation, and responsibility -- From assertion of right to self-preservation to corruption of character -- From responsibility ascription to responsibility assumption -- Concluding remarks -- The Moral Responsibility of Bystanders in the Cultural Revolution: an examination of the morality of inaction -- Introduction -- Bystanders amid political turmoil -- Bystanders in Cultural Revolution -- Distinction between action and inaction: does inaction matters morally? -- How should we understand inaction in the Cultural Revolution? -- The complexity of inaction and the difficulty of responsibility ascription -- Attribution of responsibility and assumption of responsibility -- Concluding remarks -- Conclusion: The Relationship between Human Vulnerability and Moral Responsibility -- Vulnerable participants and their predicaments -- Moral responsibility of the civilian participants -- The intricate relationship between human vulnerability and moral responsibility.