Owning up and lowering down: The power of apology
Journal of Philosophy 107 (10):534-553 (2010)
| Abstract | Apologies are strange. They are, in a certain sense, very small. An apology is just a gesture—a set of words, a physical posture, perhaps a gift. But an apology can also be very powerful—this power is implicit in the facts that it can be difficult to offer an apology and that, when we are wronged, we may want an apology very much. More, even we have been severely wronged, we are sometimes willing to forgive or pardon the wrongdoer, if we receive a sincere apology. In this paper, I want to begin to figure out how a mere gesture can be so powerful. The philosophers who discuss apology generally do not go into much detail, and they discuss it almost exclusively in connection with forgiveness. 2 I, too, will discuss apology’s power to provide reason to forgive, but in order to provide the resources to examine another power. Some apologies, I will argue, fail to provide reason to forgive, but nevertheless do provide the recipient a reason to maintain a relationship with the wrongdoer, or to allow the wrongdoer to remain in her community. To be clear: the “powers” I am interested in are reason-giving powers, or powers to make certain beliefs, attitudes, or actions rational. Apologies also, no doubt, have a sort of bare causal power. The sight of a vicious, racist, cruel war criminal on his knees and in tears, sincerely begging forgiveness, may inspire in us pity or even compassion, in spite of what we believe we have reason to feel. “I can’t help but feel sorry for the bastard,” we may say, even while believing that.. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | No categories specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesKaren D. Hoffman (2008). Forgiveness Without Apology. Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 82:135-151.
Zenon Szablowinski (2011). Apology with and Without a Request for Forgiveness. Heythrop Journal 53 (5):731-741.
Nick Smith (2005). The Categorical Apology. Journal of Social Philosophy 36 (4):473–496.
Glen Pettigrove (2004). Unapologetic Forgiveness. American Philosophical Quarterly 41 (3):187 - 204.
George Schedler (2007). Should There Be an Apology for American Slavery? Should There Be an Apology for American Slavery? 21 (2):125-148.
Aaron Lazare (2005). On Apology. OUP USA.
Richard Cross (2001). Atonement Without Satisfaction. Religious Studies 37 (4):397-416.
J. D. G. Evans (1991). Plato's Apology C. D. C. Reeve: Socrates in the Apology. An Essay on Plato's Apology of Socrates. Pp. Xv + 207. Indianapolis and Cambridge, MA: Hackett, 1989. $24.50. [REVIEW] The Classical Review 41 (02):312-313.
Ernesto Verdeja (2010). Official Apologies in the Aftermath of Political Violence. Metaphilosophy 41 (4):563-581.
Lawrence Souder (2010). A Rhetorical Analysis of Apologies for Scientific Misconduct: Do They Really Mean It? Science and Engineering Ethics 16 (1).
Eve Garrard (2002). Forgiveness and the Holocaust. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 5 (2):147-165.
Neil Levy (2002). The Apology Paradox and the Non-Identity Problem. Philosophical Quarterly 52 (208):358-368.
Danielle Poe (2007). On U.S. Lynching: Remembrance, Apology, and Reconciliation. Philosophy in the Contemporary World 14 (1):88-98.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-12-22Total downloads30 ( #40,824 of 549,063 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,185 of 549,063 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
