Perpetrator disgust as the embodiment of guilt in morally complex cases

ABSTRACT

Munch-Jurisic (2023) argues for a contextual account of perpetrator disgust that sees disgust reactions as only reflecting our social context and the meaning we bestow onto actions rather than having any inherent moral value. I argue that we should expand this contextual account to allow for some meaning to be given to the moral feeling perpetrator disgust can invoke, especially in people who are not traditional perpetrators.

KEYWORDS:

• Perpetrator disgust
• moral responsibility
• guilt

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. I thank one of the anonymous reviewers for highlighting the importance of these more ambiguous cases.

2. I would argue that this is the case in the majority of cases of wrongdoing, however, this is beside the point for the purposes of this commentary.

3. Thank you to an anonymous reviewer for highlighting this external moral aspect.