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The Meanings of Spitzer’s Apology
By | January 1, 1970
Nick Smith, J.D. and Ph.D., author of I Was Wrong: The Meanings of Apologies (Cambridge University Press,
2008)
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of New Hampshire
nick.smith@unh.edu
Elliot Spitzer’s recent statements
accompanying his resignation as governor of New York provide an occasion to reflect on the
meanings of apologies. I find apologies dizzyingly complex social rituals and
in I Was Wrong: The Meanings of Apologies—published
by Cambridge University Press in 2008—I identified more than a dozen kinds of
meaning that we seek from gestures of contrition. Instead of worrying whether an example “is or is not” an apology, I
wonder how well it serves certain purposes and to what extent it conveys
certain kinds of subtle social meanings. I referred to these as a “loose
constellation of interrelated meanings,” and in some cases a victim may desire
each of the forms of meaning I mention. In others, she may only seek one sort
of meaning such as a sincere expression of sympathy or […]
Original post by Nick Smith
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