Some aspects of the problem of guilt, with special reference to Kafka, Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky

Abstract

Guilt, we are told by Hegel, belongs intrinsically to action; and it is manifestly through action that such declarative terms as "criminality" and "heinous sin" become attached semantically to the word guilt. The Oxford English Dictionary associates with the word guilt those explicit, conceptual terms which enable one to see at once the intimate connection between guilt on the one hand and justice and the rule of law on the other. Terms such as "heinous moral offence ", "responsibility for an action ", and "great culpability" cannot easily be mistaken for purely abstract or subjective sentiments; clearly, what is indicated here is not private opinion but public judgement. In like manner the terms "delinquent ", "criminal'', and "deserving of punishment" attach to the word guilty.