Abstract

LENIS CASTANO, John Fredy. Avatars of moral conscience: Indictment, guilt and responsibility. discus.filos [online]. 2015, vol.16, n.26, pp.69-85. ISSN 0124-6127.  https://doi.org/10.17151/difil.2015.16.26.5.

In regards to the excessive objectification of guilt that has resulted from the juridization of criminal proceedings (legal framework, indictment, court, public trial and sentencing), this paper aims to assert the importance of the subjective experience of guilt as the basis for reorienting action. The goal is to emphasize the essential nature of subjective conviction for the processes of justice and redress. To show this, a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology (Ricoeur) is used. This approach makes it possible to analyaze the configuration of moral conscience as the result of the tension between indictment-guilt and responsibility. Finally, the authors conclude that it is necessary to move from experiencing guilt as remorse to experiencing it as responsibility toward others and toward the future. Individuals should be aware of what is in their own hands and the subjective character of responsibility in order to avoid moral simulation.

Keywords : Moral action; moral conscience; guilt; indictment; responsibility.

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