The Apology: The Circumstances and Morality of Social Relations

Since the dawn of time, we have encountered conflicts caused by the breaking of moral rules. And the same resource has always been at our disposal to avoid these conflicts: the excuse. Adam, in Eden, when pressured by the Creator for committing original sin, didn't hesitate and blamed Eve. Drawing on vast theoretical material, ranging from the classical sociology of Max Weber and Georg Simmel to the contemporary French pragmatism of Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot, and including the philosophy of language of John L. Austin, Werneck proposes an innovative explanatory model to understand not only the role of circumstances in morality, but also the way in which, through them, we maintain our social relationships. To support his thesis, the author researches four cases of apology: manuals that teach effective apologies; testimonies from the investigation of the Mensalão scandal; situations in the life of couples; and the use of old age as an excuse for rudeness committed by the elderly. From each of them—but also from fictional examples ranging from the antics of Brás Cubas to the everyday comedy of Seinfeld, and from biblical stories ranging from Adam to the Good Thief, via the Tower of Babel—he explores how we, who make excuses, construct the circumstances with which we account for our differences. Alexandre Werneck is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a member of the Center for the Study of Citizenship, Conflict, and Urban Violence (NECVU). His work focuses on the study of morality. "A justifica" (The Excuse), his first book, is based on his doctoral thesis, which received an honorable mention in the Capes Thesis Award.