Three interesting looking books reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement, January 7, 2001

Resentment’s Virtue: Jean Améry and the Refusal to Forgive, Thomas Brudholm, Temple

“It feels almost impious to question [Archbishop Desmond] Tutu’s position…given his astonishing achievements, courage and charisma. And yet Brudholm does precisely that with care and insight…. [He] sets up a stark contrast between Tutu’s allegiance to forgiveness and [Jean] Améry’s resistance to forgiving great crimes…. Compelling a witness though Améry is, one finishes Brudholm’s thought-provoking book warned about the dangers of unilateral forgiveness.”

I Was Wrong: The Meaning of Apologies, Nick Smith, Cambridge

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 [GoodReads]

Making Amends: Atonement in Morality, Law and Politics, Linda Radzik, Oxford

“Making Amends is an illuminating, elegantly written, and much-needed systematic treatment of the ethical obligations of wrongdoers…. Linda Radzik’s Making Amends is a superb philosophical investigation of the moral aftermath of wrongdoing. In taking up such a critical area of morality, Radzik makes a significant contribution to ethics.”–Cheshire Calhoun, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

The TLS review is not available on-line at the moment but other reviews are available for those interested. I of course haven’t read any of these yet.  Given my present load I’m unlikely to soon, but the issues of forgiveness and atonement and apology lie right in the heart of the difficult matter of being human.  It’s good to see that some serious, modern attention is being given it.

Print PDF