Although Naturalistic Humanism regards the concept of personal responsibility somewhat differently than it is thought of in our mainstream culture, there are some points of agreement. As it is in mainstream culture, within a Naturalistic Humanism framework acknowledging our actions and the effects they have on others is important. In this way, a Naturalistic Humanist will take responsibility for their behavior as would anyone else: “Yes, that was something I did.”
A Naturalistic Humanist will also have thoughts and feelings about their behavior ranging from: “I like how I handled that.” to “I wish I had handled that better.” or even “I’m really upset at how I just behaved.” When a Naturalistic Humanist behaves in a manner that is hurtful to another, if they are emotionally healthy they will want to remedy the situation.
Where a Naturalistic Humanism approach differs considerably from the mainstream involves the understanding that no matter how we behave, and no matter how it makes us feel, we understand that it is the only behavior our determinants would allow. Accordingly, we can take responsibility for our behavior in the most proximate sense — “Yes, I did that” but not in the ultimate sense because our behaviors do not originate from us.
This distinction is important — appreciating how being proximately responsible differs from being ultimately responsible removes the justification for both self-blame and the blaming of others. Fear of being blamed causes many people to rigorously resist taking responsibility for anything that they think might diminish their esteem in the opinion of others, or even of themselves. In contrast, because a Naturalistic Humanist does not blame themselves they are more likely to “take responsibility” for their actions than someone who believes they are ultimately responsible.