Description
Book SynopsisCan 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 ea
Trade ReviewRadzik expertly and critically examines theories of atonement as moral transformation and as debt repayment * Charles L. Grisworld, Times Literary Supplement *
Linda Radzik makes a valuable contribution to a small, but important and rapidly growing body of philosophy on the aftermath of wrongdoing ... highly engaging at the levels of both theorizing and moralizing, and I can hardly do justice to the range of ideas and questions Radzik raises. * Adrienne M. Martin, Mind *
Table of ContentsNOTES; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX
