Guilt

In law, ethics and morality?, guilt is a concept similar to the economic concept of debt?.

Actions of low or negative legal/moral/ethical value that cause damage on the object, put an equal amount of guilt on the agent. Guilt can be repaired by punishment? (a common legal action), by forgiveness?, or by sincere remorse? (as with confession? in Catholicism), but not by the agent's self-punishment.

The Latin word for guilt is culpa, a word sometimes seen in law literature.

Some thinkers have theorized that guilt is used as a tool of social control. Since guilty people feel they are undeserving, they are less likely to assert their rights and prerogatives. Thus, those in power seek to cultivate a sense of guilt among the populace, in order to make them more tractable. This was a theme in Eric Hoffer's [True Believer]?. Ayn Rand claimed that Christian sexual morality served a similar purpose.

Guilt was a theme in John Steinbeck's [East of Eden]?.

Quotes on guilt are available [here].