Apologies

Historical Perspectives

Apology is one of the oldest and most scrutinized of speech acts. It first received extended attention in the writings of Plato and Aristotle, who analyzed the defense offered by Socrates to his accusers. Apologia is a defensive discourse, a carefully crafted public statement through which the accused explain their motives and request exoneration. The audience for such statements includes not only the accusers but also a larger citizenry assumed to be acting as judges of the speaker's character.

Later, in the medieval period, the church became the audience and judge of these public apologies. The expected form of an apology resembled that of a confession—admitting one's mistakes before God. Apologies were crafted to seek God's forgiveness and, perhaps, intervention on behalf of the accused. As rhetorician Sharon Downey notes in her historical review, in the 19th century apology evolved to be a rebellious form of speech. The accused admitted guilt while also claiming that the guilty deeds were justified by a higher moral standard. As used by speakers like the American abolitionist John Brown, this brand of apology allowed the offender to play the role of scapegoat while inciting indignant audiences to further the speaker's objectives.

In recent decades, apologia has evolved further, often serving as an image restoration strategy for disgraced public figures and institutions. In such cases, the accused party cultivates audience identification with statements such as “We all make mistakes” and sympathy by casting doubt on the motives of the accusers. This form of apology minimizes the speaker's responsibility for the act while increasing the chances of political survival.

Social Science Perspectives

Contemporary writing on apology, including that of most social scientists, focuses on its role as an expression of remorse for relational transgressions or social failures. The literature is complicated by its sometimes interchangeable use of related, but slightly different, terms. Remorse is a feeling of distress, sadness, or sorrow over one's actions. Contrition is a related term, often defined as the showing of sorrow or grief over one's behavior and its negative consequences. Regret is a painful feeling of disappointment with past behavior, often accompanied by a wish that the act had not occurred. Repentance is a future-oriented commitment to “turn away from sin.” Regret and/or repentance are frequently included in apologies. They communicate a recognition of moral failure. Apologies are often considered a kind of account. Accounts provide an explanation for behavior that violates social expectation.

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