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Moral Moments

Apt Apologies

by Joel Marks

Western philosophy begins with an apology: Socrates’ self-defense at his trial. Here he explains how he became so unpopular, to the point of being accused of a capital offense. But he’s not saying he’s sorry at all. This points up an interesting feature of apologies in general: They do not bear a simple one-to-one relation with being at fault, nor even with considering oneself to be at fault … or so I shall argue.

We must immediately be aware of homonymous usage: Socrates’ was an apology in the sense of a formal justification, rather than the more common one of an acknowledgment of guilt (that is, responsibility for having done something wrong) combined with an expression of regret.

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