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The Meanings of Apologies
Cambridge University Press
March 2008
On Sale: February 29, 2008
304 pages ISBN: 0521684234 EAN: 9780521684231 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Apologies can be profoundly meaningful, yet many gestures of
contrition-especially those in legal contexts-appear hollow
and even deceptive. Discussing numerous examples from
ancient and recent history, I Was Wrong argues that we
suffer from considerable confusion about the moral meanings
and social functions of these complex interactions. Rather
than asking whether a speech act "is or is not" an apology,
Smith offers a highly nuanced theory of apologetic meaning.
He leads us though a series of rich philosophical and
interdisciplinary questions, explaining how apologies have
evolved from a confluence of diverse cultural and religious
practices that do not translate easily into secular
discourse or gender stereotypes. After classifying several
varieties of apologies between individuals, Smith turns to
apologies from collectives. Although apologies from
corporations, governments, and other groups can be quite
meaningful in certain respects, we should be suspicious of
those that supplant apologies from individual wrongdoers.
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