Book Description

"The subject of this book is an emotion that philosophers have largely overlooked and yet one that is the target of intense public debate: taking offence. This is an everyday emotion, often taken at small and ordinary slights of daily life. However, especially in an era of public criticism of those deemed too easily offended, it is easy to overlook offence's significance and social value. This book aims to rehabilitate taking offence. Rather than addressing the question familiar from jurisprudence of whether the state ought to regulate offensive behaviour, I ask the philosophically neglected questions of whether we ought to take offence, when, and within what limits. My focus is the offended, and not those who cause offence. Against the widespread popular perception of offence as a civic vice, this book defends taking offence as often morally appropriate and socially important. Within societies marred by hierarchies of unequal social standing, and when taken by those who face systematic attributions of lower social standing, an inclination to take offence at the right things and to the right degree is a civic virtue"--