Thank you, Le Miguel Jumonong, for this interesting question.
We often allude to several types of guilt. For instance, Sam may be guilty of stealing an apple, Mary of eating too much meat, and a political party leader of bitterly losing national elections. At first glance, these cases seem to be distinct. Indeed, Sam is legally guilty of stealing an apple from the market to feed his children, without being accused of being morally guilty. Equally, Mary can be considered morally guilty of having dinner every day with pork tenderloin, although she is not breaking any law in her country. And the leader of a party may be held politically guilty of a resounding electoral defeat, without being guilty from a moral or legal point of view.
Although distinct, these various cases often trigger the same emotional response: a typically negative and unpleasant feeling, similar in some respects to shame and remorse, which causes tension, anxiety, and restlessness – that feeling is what we call “guilt”. This emotional experience need not be linked to the above situations: an individual may feel guilty without having committed a crime or fault, as in some instances of survivor guilt; or they may feel no particular emotion despite having committed several crimes, as in the case of a ruthless and indifferent serial killer. That said, emotional guilt is often triggered by the subject’s impression that they have violated a certain norm.
Indeed, guilt usually manifests in specific contexts and gives rise to certain actions. Guilt is a kind of “relational” emotion; it elicits action aimed at repairing the harm done. Brain imaging has shown that guilt, much like other so-called self-conscious emotions (e.g. shame or embarrassment), is associated with regions of the brain that are related to the self-evaluation of behaviours. In everyday life, guilt is experienced when one has hurt someone or failed to do something. This feeling is an important factor in re-establishing relationships with others after harm has been done, and thus contributes to strengthening social bonds. As a social emotion, guilt is also modulated by social frameworks. There is, for instance, a rather widespread belief that Asian and Occidental societies differ in the degree to which guilt and shame are used as mechanisms for social control. As for learning about guilt, it has been shown that the concept and its associated emotion are usually developed through parental education (generally via power assertion, withdrawal of affection, and inductive reasoning) and through imitation (that is, behavioural mimicry).
So, guilt, although a negative and unpleasant feeling for the subject, is in fact a sign of good psychological and moral health; it promotes empathy, altruism, and good social relations.
What do you think? What makes you feel guilty? Let us know in the comments.
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Image: Cain, by Henri Vidal (1896)
I studied in Geneva and Paris (University of Geneva and École Normale Supérieure) and I specialized in the philosophy of emotions, especially in the relationship between affective states and memory. My master's thesis dealt with nostalgia and represented an attempt to establish a general philosophical theory of this rich and complex emotion. Other areas of interest include moral emotions, metaethics and metaphysics, with a penchant for fictionality. I do not have any specific philosophical arguments in mind; however, I find that the works of Russell, Popper and Kripke are a must-read.
Wow, I am trying to write an argument for a friendly debate and this kinds of opens my eyes towards what I should write to convince the other party in the guilt motion theme