Culpability, or being
culpable, is a measure of the degree to which an agent, such as a person, can be held
morally or
legally responsible for action and inaction. Culpability marks the dividing line between
moral evil, like murder, for which someone may be held legally responsible and an
act of god, like
earthquakes, for which no human can be held responsible. One formulation of the concept is as follows:
Culpability descends from the
Latin concept of fault (
culpa). The concept of culpability is intimately tied up with notions of
agency, freedom, and
free will. All are commonly held to be
necessary, but not
sufficient, conditions for culpability.