Guilt is the fact, state, or verdict (by a court or other tribunal), of an offence, crime, violation, or wrong committed, especially against moral or penal law. Generally a fact is defined as something that is true something that actually exists or something that can be verified according to an established standard of evaluation In Law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a Jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge A court is a forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour administrative and criminal Justice under its Tribunal is a generic term for any body acting judicially whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment Infraction as a general term means a violation of a rule or Local ordinance or regulation promise or obligation A wrong or being wrong is a concept in Law, Ethics, and Science. Morality (from the Latin la moralitas "manner character proper behavior" has three principal meanings Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society Guilt is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes - whether justified or not - that he or she has violated a moral standard and is responsible for that violation. Cognition is a concept used in different ways by different disciplines but is generally accepted to mean the process of awareness or thought An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours Understanding (also called intellection) is a psychological Process related to an abstract or physical object such as Person, situation or Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true Morality (from the Latin la moralitas "manner character proper behavior" has three principal meanings ^[1] It is closely related to the concept of remorse. Remorse (also called compunction) is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful

Definitions of guilt

In psychology and ordinary language, guilt is an affective state in which one experiences conflict at having done something that one believes one should not have done (or conversely, having not done something one believes one should have done). It gives rise to a feeling that does not go away easily, driven by conscience. Conscience is a hypothesized Ability or faculty that distinguishes whether our actions are right or wrong Sigmund Freud described this as the result of a struggle between the ego and the superego parental imprinting. Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of Guilt and its causes, merits, and demerits are common themes in psychology and psychiatry. It is often associated with depression. The philosopher Martin Buber underlined the difference between the Freudian notion of guilt, based on internal conflicts, and existential guilt, based on actual harm done to others. Martin Buber ( 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian Israeli Jewish Philosopher, translator Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded ^[2]

Causes of guilt

Some thinkers have theorized that guilt is used as a tool of social control. Social control refers to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior leading to conformity and compliances to the rules of a given Society or Since guilty people feel they are undeserving, they are less likely to assert their rights and prerogatives. Thus, those in power seek to cultivate a sense of guilt among the populace, in order to make them more tractable. This is especially so within multicultural and multiracial societies where the governments of the day, need a denationalized population, so there is no collective, national cohesiveness as guilt is used in large urban areas to fragment and control the populace.

Some evolutionary psychologists theorize that guilt and shame helped maintain beneficial relationships, such as reciprocal altruism. In Evolutionary biology and Evolutionary psychology, reciprocal altruism is a form of Altruism in which one organism provides a benefit to another without ^[3] If a person feels guilty when he harms another or even fails to reciprocate kindness, he is more likely not to harm others or become too selfish; in this way, he reduces the chances of retaliation by members of his tribe and thereby increases his survival prospects, and those of the tribe or group. As with any other emotion, guilt can be manipulated to control or influence others.

Another common notion is that guilt is assigned by social processes such as a jury trial, i. e. that it is a strictly legal concept. Thus the ruling of a jury that O.J. Simpson or Julius Rosenberg was "guilty" or "not guilty" is taken as an actual judgement by the whole society that they must act as if they were so. Orenthal James "O J" Simpson (born July 9 1947 who has also been called The Juice, is a retired American football player, Julius Rosenberg (May 12 1918 &ndash June 19 1953 and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (September 28 1915 &ndash June 19 1953 were American Communists who were executed By corollary, the ruling that such a person is "not guilty" may not be so taken, due to the asymmetry in the assumption that one is assumed innocent until proven guilty and prefers to take the risk of freeing a guilty party over convicting innocents. The presumption of innocence being innocent until proven guilty is a legal Right that the Accused in Criminal trials has Risk is a Concept that denotes the precise probability of specific eventualities

Still others -- often, but not always, theists of one type or another -- believe that the origin of guilt comes from violating universal principles of right and wrong. In most instances, people who believe this also acknowledge that, even though there is proper guilt from doing 'wrong' instead of doing 'right,' people endure all sorts of guilty feelings that don't stem from violating universal moral principles.

Collective guilt

See also: Collective responsibility (doctrine)

Collective guilt, or guilt by association, is the controversial collectivist idea that a group of humans can bear guilt above and beyond the guilt of particular members, and hence an individual holds responsibility for what other members of his group have done, even if he himself hasn't done this. Collective responsibility is a concept or doctrine according to which individuals are to be held responsible for other people's actions by tolerating ignoring or harboring them without Collectivism is a term used to describe any moral political or social outlook that stresses human Interdependence and the importance of a Collective, rather than Advanced systems of criminal law accept the principle that guilt shall only be personal. The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential In Criminal law, guilt is entirely externally defined by the State, or more generally a “court of law This attitude is not usually shared by other systems of law. Assumption of collective responsibility is common for feud. A feud (ˈfjuːd (referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud or vendetta) is a long-running argument or fight between parties&mdashoften through Guilt Such systems tend to judge the guilt of persons by their associations, classifications or organizations, which often gives rise to racial, ethnic, social and religious prejudices. The word prejudice refers to prejudgment making a decision before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case or event ^[4] Collective guilt is regarded by some as impossible because it seems to presuppose that collections of humans can have traits, such as intentions and knowledge, that strictly speaking are claimed to be truly possessed only by individuals. The principle of collective guilt is totally denounced in libertarian social thinking. Libertarianism is a term used by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which prioritize individual Liberty and seek to minimize or even abolish the However, there are those who consider such judgements on collective guilt to be overly reductionistic and accept the existence of collective guilt, collective responsibility, etc. Reductionism can either mean (a an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts or to simpler or more fundamental things Sometimes the idea of collective guilt can be a form of association fallacy. An association fallacy is an inductive Formal fallacy of the type Hasty generalization or red herring which asserts that qualities of one Humans seem to have a natural tendency to attribute collective guilt, usually with tragic results. History is filled with examples of a wronged man who tried to avenge himself, not on the person who has wronged him, but on other members of the wrong-doer's family, or ethnic group, or religion, or nation, or tribe, or army. Likewise collective punishment is often practiced in different settings, including schools (punishing a whole class for the actions of a single unknown pupil) and, more transcendentally, in situation of war, economic sanctions, etc, presupposing the existence of collective guilt.

It has been suggested by Werner Cohn that the accusation that others apply "guilt by association" is itself a fallacy, for two reasons: 1) the term "guilt" is ambiguous. Sometimes it applies to criminal guilt, which requires a very high standard of proof ("proof beyond a reasonable doubt"). But more often, "guilt" refers to various shortcomings that require lesser standards. 2) "association" is also ambiguous. Sometimes "association" may be totally innocent, such as the association of fellow travelers on a train. But other kinds of association, for instance criminal conspiracy, are not at all innocent.

The idea of collective guilt became popular in Western World since the 1960s, as many historical injustices, including e. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 g. slavery in the United States, has been perceived by intelligentsia as faults of the society requiring retribution on behalf of those who had nothing to do with them (see e. Slavery in the United States began soon after English colonists first settled Virginia in 1607 and lasted until the passage of the Thirteenth For the coffee shop company often called Intelligentsia for short see Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea. g. Reparations for slavery and White guilt). Reparations for Slavery is a proposal by some in the United States that some type of compensation should be provided to the descendants of enslaved people in ^[5][6][7][8]

Terrorism is commonly rationalized by its practitioners on ideas of collective guilt and responsibility. Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion ^[9] Many nations have laws holding corporations, but not the individual decision-makers within them, responsible for certain kinds of acts. For example, in the United States corporations can be fined for violating pollution laws, but the individuals who actually ordered and directed the polluting activity may not themselves be regarded as having broken any laws, since they act as corporate officers on behalf of the shareholders. This is generally known as the "corporate veil". The corporate law concept of piercing (lifting the corporate veil describes a legal decision where a shareholder or director of a Corporation is held liable for the

Cultural views of guilt

Traditional Japanese society and Ancient Greek society are sometimes said to be "shame-based" rather than "guilt-based" in that the social consequences of "getting caught" are seen as more important than the individual feelings or experiences of the agent. The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over millenia from the country's prehistoric Jomon culture to its contemporary hybrid culture which combines influences from Asia The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Shame is variously an affect emotion cognition state or condition This may lead to more of a focus on etiquette than ethics as understood in Western civilization. Etiquette is a code that governs the expectations of Social behavior, according to the contemporary conventional norm within a Society, Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life This has led some in Western civilizations to question why the word ethos was adapted from Ancient Greek with such vast differences in cultural norms. Ethos (ˈiːθɒs (grc ἦθος ἔθος plurals ethe (ἤθη ethea (ἤθεα is a Greek word originally meaning "accustomed The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c

Christianity and Islam inherit most notions of guilt from Judaism, Persian and Roman ideas, mostly as interpreted through Augustine who adapted Plato's ideas to Christianity. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece The Latin word for guilt is culpa, a word sometimes seen in law literature, e. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. g. in mea culpa meaning "my fault (guilt)".

Guilt in literature

Guilt was a main theme in John Steinbeck's East of Eden, Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," and many other works of literature. John Steinbeck III (February 27 1902—December 20 1968 was one of the best-known and most widely read American writers of the 20th century East of Eden is a Novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952 Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, Crime and Punishment (Преступление и наказание is a Novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky that A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize William Shakespeare ( baptised Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare 's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written some time between Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, " The Tell-Tale Heart " is a Short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843 It was a major theme in many works by Nathaniel Hawthorne and is a nearly universal concern of novelists, who explore inner life and secrets. Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4 1804 – May 19 1864 was an American novelist and Short story writer Life is a state that distinguishes Organisms from non-living objects such as non-life and dead organisms being manifested by growth through Metabolism

Dealing with guilt

Guilt can sometimes be remedied by punishment (a common action and advised or required in many legal and moral codes), by forgiveness (as in transformative justice), or by sincere remorse (as with confession in Catholicism or restorative justice). Punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant or aversive on a person or animal usually in response to disobedient or morally wrong behavior A Code is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the code was enacted by a Forgiveness doesn't mean that you deny the other person's responsibility for hurting you and it doesn't minimize or justify the wrong Transformative justice is a general philosophical strategy for responding to conflicts Remorse (also called compunction) is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful The confession of one's Sins is a religious practice important to many faiths e As a Christian Ecclesiastical term Catholic —from the Greek adjective, meaning "general" or "universal"—is described Restorative Justice is commonly known as a Theory of criminal justice that focuses on crime as an act against another individual or community rather than the state Guilt can also be remedied through cognition, the understanding that the source of the guilty feelings was illogical or irrelevant. Law does not usually accept the agent's self-punishment, but some ancient codes did so: in Athens the accused was permitted to propose his or her own remedy, which might in fact be a reward, while the accuser proposed another, and the jury chose between. Self-injury ( SI) or self-harm ( SH) is deliberate Injury inflicted by a person upon their own body without suicidal intent Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's A jury a sworn body of persons convened to render a rational, impartial Verdict (a finding of fact on a question officially submitted to them This forced the accused to effectively bet on his support in the community - as Socrates did when he proposed "room and board in the town hall" as his fate. SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. He lost, and drank hemlock, a poison, as advised by his accuser. Poison hemlock redirects here For other uses of "hemlock" see Hemlock. In the context of Biology, poisons are substances that can cause damage, Illness, or Death to Organisms usually by

Lack of guilt

Psychopaths typically lack a sense of guilt or remorse for any harm they may have caused others, instead rationalizing the behavior, blaming someone else, or denying it altogether. Psychopathy ( is a psychological construct that describes chronic immoral and Antisocial behavior ^[10] This is seen by psychologists as part of a lack of moral reasoning in comparison with the majority of humans, an inability to evaluate situations in a moral framework and an inability to develop emotional bonds with other people. ^[11]

See also

• Catholic guilt
• Good faith
• Helpfulness
• Shame
• Conscience
• Survivor guilt
• Fear
• Learnt or innate
• Freud
• Nietzsche's critique of the "bad conscience"

Further reading

• Guilt in Think On These Things. Catholic guilt is the feeling of Remorse, self-doubt or personal responsibility that results when a Catholic or Lapsed Catholic engages in sinful In Social psychology, the everyday concept of helpfulness is technically defined as (1 the property of providing useful assistance and (2 friendliness evidenced by a kindly Shame is variously an affect emotion cognition state or condition Conscience is a hypothesized Ability or faculty that distinguishes whether our actions are right or wrong Survivor guilt, otherwise known as Survivor syndrome, is the mental condition that results from the appraisal that a person has done wrong by surviving traumatic events such Fear is an Emotional response to Threats and Danger. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific Stimulus, such as Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist Retrieved on 2006-02-16. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols by Gary Gilley
• The Innocent Bear the Guilt for the Guilty Ones. Retrieved on 2007-05-10. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. by Gerd Altendorff translation by Jochen Reiss
• Branscombe, Nyla R. ; Bertjan Doosje (2004). Collective Guilt: International Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521520835.  

References

1. ^ "Guilt." Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2nd ed. Ed. Bonnie R. Strickland. Gale Group, Inc. , 2001. eNotes. com. 2006. 31 Dec, 2007
2. ^ Buber, M. (1957). Guilt and guilt feelings. Psychiatry. May; 20(2): 114-29.
3. ^ "Shame and Psychopathology" By Stefano Pallanti, MD, and Leonardo Quercioli, MD
4. ^ Wright, Quincy (1949). International Law and Guilt by Association. The American Journal of International Law 43. The American Journal of International Law is an English-language scholarly journal focusing on International law and International relations. 4, 746-755.
5. ^ Thomas Sowell (2007). Aftermath of the 1960s?.
6. ^ Posner, Eric A. & Adrian Vermeule (2003). Reparations for Slavery and Other Historical Injustices. Columbia Law Review 103. The Columbia Law Review is a Law review edited and published entirely by students at Columbia Law School. 3, 689-748.
7. ^ Wenger, Kaimipono D. (2004). Causation and Attenuation in the Slavery Reparations Debate
8. ^ Lilly, J. Robert & Richard A. Ball (1982). A Critical Analysis of the Changing Concept of Criminal Responsibility. Criminology 20 (2), 169–184.
9. ^ Devine, Philip E. & Robert J. Rafalko (1982). On Terror. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 463, International Terrorism (Sep. The American Academy of Political and Social Science was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences , 1982), pp. 39-53.
10. ^ Millon, Theodore; Davis, Roger D. "Chapter 11: The Five-Factor Model of Personality, pp. 173-177. Psychopathy: Antisocial, Criminal, and Violent Behavior.
11. ^ Hare, R. D. , & Neumann, C. N. (2006). The PCL-R Assessment of Psychopathy: Development, Structural Properties, and New Directions. In C. Patrick (Ed. ), Handbook of Psychopathy (pp. 58-88). New York: Guilford.