Does blaming other people or institutions help you feel better? Is blame ever helpful?

Is retribution ever justified? Is the problem that we really need to get to a shared moral understanding?

Is it right to apologize for what was done by previous generations (for example with slavery)?

Good questions discussed in the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Quotes from the podcast:

..Helmreich in this connection who’s really emphasized something he calls the ‘Apology Stance’. And that apologizing is a kind of speech act which not only expresses, but also manifests or enacts (that’s his word, enacts) the inner state of being appropriately sorry.

..Though as many have pointed out too much praise or the wrong kind of praise can be toxic in various ways. Not least it can carry presuppositions about what you ought to be like and it’s encouraging you to be certain ways and not others and so on. It can be kind of controlling and it can make people too dependent on praise and really they should just get on with their lives and not worry too much.

..Maybe we just think hey they’re late or they lied to me or they let me down or I let them down. Whatever, that’s human nature, just kind of let it go and I’m not even going to really bother perceiving it in terms of fault and I certainly won’t bother going for this whole moral address business. I’m just going to be a little bit more chill in my moral life. I think that’s one answer someone might give and really try and think about how to train themselves to blame less.

..I feel like one is caught between a Scylla and Charybdis when it comes to blame. And so I’m particularly interested in locating a kind of, as it were, candid, frank, respectful, blaming attitude that I think can be really helpful in moral life.

References

Philosophy Bites podcast episode on blame with Miranda Fricker.

Jeffrey S Helmriech: The Apologetic Stance