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3 - Apology and forgiveness

from I - Retrospective responsibility

Christopher Cowley
Affiliation:
University College Dublin
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Summary

Let us return to the paradigmatic “blame game” encounter around which this whole book is structured. We have one individual who does something wrong; we have another individual (the victim) who is inclined to blame or resent or be angry at her for the wrong. Such blame made three assumptions about the wrongdoer's capacity, control and understanding of what she was doing. The next move is then the wrongdoer's. She may deny causal responsibility altogether, and provide further details to reveal why the accusation was incorrect. If she accepts causal responsibility but not moral responsibility, she will already owe a minimal apology to express her regret that the wrong was caused, but then go on to offer an excuse or justification for the wrong. Alternatively, she may accept causal and moral responsibility, in which case she owes the victim a deeper apology. Then the game moves back to the victim, and she has to decide how to respond to the excuse, to the deep apology, or to the defiant lack of apology – and one option open to her will be to forgive the wrongdoer for wronging her. This chapter will therefore investigate the wrongdoer's apology and the victim's forgiveness.

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Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2013

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