Most conceptual analyses of responsibility fail to sufficiently account for the historicity of the concept – both within philosophical reflections and within non-philosophical practices. Three frequently encountered problems are: First,»responsibility« is often read retrospectively in texts where the concept is not present; second, the necessary and sufficient conditions that account for responsibility’s meaning are often derived from contemporary usage alone; and third, the non-philosophical usage of »responsibility« is often dismissed as »defective« too quickly. To avoid all three problems, I argue for a Foucauldian analysis of practices in which »responsibility« is used.