Remorse : a prospective genealogy
Although moral philosophy has seen an upsurge of work in moral emotions, remorse is significantly neglected. Part of what explains the neglect, I argue, is a commitment to a narrow, ultimately distorted, conception of remorse. Central to my line of argument is the idea that what makes remorse distinctively moral is its special focus with those directly affected by what one has done. Foregrounding this claim, however, reveals the narrow conception to be detached from what is widely taken to ground it. If we preserve the special moral character of remorse two controversial conclusions follow: (i) that the scope of remorse is broader than standardly taken to be, and, (ii) that the ubiquitous assumption that remorse is merely the first-personal mirror of justified blame comes into problematic doubt. New lines of debate concerning the adequacy of the narrow conception as well as key objections against moral theories committed to it are opened.
Fetterolf, Elianna
Remorse : a prospective genealogy. Although moral philosophy has seen an upsurge of work in moral emotions, remorse is significantly neglected. Part of what explains the neglect, I argue, is a commitment to a narrow, ultimately distorted, conception of remorse. Central to my line of argument is the idea that what makes remorse distinctively moral is its special focus with those directly affected by what one has done. Foregrounding this claim, however, reveals the narrow conception to be detached from what is widely taken to ground it. If we preserve the special moral character of remorse two controversial conclusions follow: (i) that the scope of remorse is broader than standardly taken to be, and, (ii) that the ubiquitous assumption that remorse is merely the first-personal mirror of justified blame comes into problematic doubt. New lines of debate concerning the adequacy of the narrow conception as well as key objections against moral theories committed to it are opened.
prospective genealogy although moral_philosophy see upsurge work moral emotion significantly neglect part explain neglect argue commitment narrow ultimately distort conception central line_argument idea make distinctively moral special focus directly affect foregrounding claim however reveals narrow conception detach widely take ground preserve special moral_character controversial conclusion follow scope broader standardly take ubiquitous assumption merely first personal mirror justify blame come problematic doubt new_line debate_concern adequacy narrow conception well key objection moral_theory commit open