Making Amends

Atonement in Morality, Law, and Politics
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-19-976725-0
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 395 g

Can wrongs be righted? Can we make up for our misdeeds, or does the impossibility of changing the past mean that we remain permanently guilty? While atonement is traditionally considered a theological topic, Making Amends uses the resources of secular moral philosophy to explore the possibility of correcting the wrongs we do to one another.

Philosophers generally approach the problem of past wrongdoing from the point of view of either a judge or a victim. They assume that wrongdoing can only be resolved through punishment or forgiveness. But this book explores the responses that wrongdoers can and should make to their own misdeeds, responses such as apology, repentance, reparations, and self-punishment. Making Amends explores the possibility of atonement in a broad spectrum of contexts--from cases of relatively minor wrongs in personal relationships, to crimes, to the historical injustices of our political and religious communities. It argues that wrongdoers often have the ability to earn redemption within the moral community.

Making Amends defends a theory of atonement that emphasizes the rebuilding of respect and trust among victims, communities and wrongdoers. The ideal of reconciliation enables us to explain the value of repentance without restricting our interest to the wrongdoer's character, to account for the power of reparations without placing a dollar value on dignity, to justify the suffering of guilt without falling into a simplistic endorsement of retribution, and to insist on the moral responsibility of wrongdoing groups without treating their members unfairly.

Zielgruppe

Scholars, students, and other readers interested in moral philosophy and its connection to law and politics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Radzik, Linda

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

An Ethic for Wrongdoers
Repaying Moral Debts: Self-Punishment and Restitution
Changing One's Heart, Changing the Past: Repentance and Moral Transformation
Reforming Relationships: The Reconciliation Theory of Atonement
Forgiveness, Self-Forgiveness, and Redemption
Making Amends for Crime: Restorative Justice and the Liberal State
Collective Atonement: Making Amends to the Magdalen Penitents
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Radzik, Linda
Linda Radzik is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of M.A. Program at Texas A&M University.

Linda Radzik is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of M.A. Program at Texas A&M University.