Holding Wrongdoers Responsible

<p><em>Holding Wrongdoers Responsible</em> contests a number of widely accepted claims about blame and forgiveness that are insufficiently examined in the philosophical literature and their relationship to each other. These claims are: </p><p>i<em> </em>Anger is the most fitting kind of blame for those who are guilty of wrongdoing.<br>ii<em> </em>Culpable wrongdoers should be blamed for what they have done.<br>iii<i> </i>Forgiving consists of renouncing blame and blame feelings especially angry ones.<br>iv<em> </em>Forgiving is a kind and compassionate act for which a wrongdoer should be grateful. </p><p>Against (i) the book argues that there are a number of reasons why we should be skeptical about the singular importance given to anger in this connection; against (ii) that blame is just one possible response to wrongdoing and like other responses has to be evaluated in relation to its purposes and the available alternatives; against (iii) that the continuation of blame after forgiveness is neither conceptually nor morally ruled out; and against (iv) that the image of forgiveness as benevolent and gift-like belies its dark side. By contesting these claims the book reveals some of the moral and psychological complexities of these phenomena.</p>