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<p>As embodied beings with limited attentional resources, we habitually attend to some aspects of the world while overlooking others. Because our interests, needs, and sensibilities differ, we do not notice the same things in the same environment. While there are many instances in which not noticing something that is apparent to another person has no significant moral implications, I argue that some noticing habits are tied to the perpetuation of structures of inequality and privilege. Specifically, structurally privileged agents’ habitual failures of noticing often excuse them from responsibilities that are displaced onto less privileged agents, who must bear these burdens alone. In this way, failures of noticing can make us complicit in upholding social inequalities—especially those from which we directly benefit and which we are particularly incentivized to overlook.&#xa0;To help shift the weight of some responsibilities, structurally privileged agents must cultivate habits of noticing that render them attentive to aspects of the world they have learned and been enabled to ignore.</p>

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Noticing Habits: Shifting the Burden of Responsibility

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月24日

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  • Corinne Lajoie

摘要

As embodied beings with limited attentional resources, we habitually attend to some aspects of the world while overlooking others. Because our interests, needs, and sensibilities differ, we do not notice the same things in the same environment. While there are many instances in which not noticing something that is apparent to another person has no significant moral implications, I argue that some noticing habits are tied to the perpetuation of structures of inequality and privilege. Specifically, structurally privileged agents’ habitual failures of noticing often excuse them from responsibilities that are displaced onto less privileged agents, who must bear these burdens alone. In this way, failures of noticing can make us complicit in upholding social inequalities—especially those from which we directly benefit and which we are particularly incentivized to overlook. To help shift the weight of some responsibilities, structurally privileged agents must cultivate habits of noticing that render them attentive to aspects of the world they have learned and been enabled to ignore.