La chaire en éthique des affaires est heureuse de recevoir Luc Bovens, professeur de philosophie à la London School of Economics au département de philosophie. Il viendra présenter une conférence sur les différents aspects moraux des excuses publiques et privées. On peut télécharger le texte de la conférence au bas de cette page.

A Plea for Apologies

P.G. Wodehouse writes, «It is a good rule in life never to apologise. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.» One might respond that there are indeed too many apologies, both in private and public life, but too few genuine apologies. There are various reasons why an apology may not qualify as a genuine apology. I will argue that there is a cognitive, an affective, a conative and an attitudinal component to a genuine apology. As to the cognitive component, the offending party may seem to be unaware of its wrongdoing. As to the affective component, an apology may express little remorse or sympathy for the suffering caused and may be motivated more by opportunism. As to the conative component, the offending party may not display a willingness to change her ways. As to the attitudinal component, we expect an apology to be accompanied by an attitude of humility. In discussing these components, I will also touch on the following questions. When are apologies due? What is the link between apologising and making amends? Does apologising come with some kind of commitment to moral renewal? What is the nature of this strange ritual of offering and accepting apologies? And is there some truth to the claim that the right kind of people do not need apologies?