Editing Guilt (emotion) (section)

== Cultural views ==
{{main|Guilt–shame–fear spectrum of cultures}}
Traditional [[Culture of Japan|Japanese society]], [[Korean society]] and [[Chinese culture]]<ref>Bill Brugger, ''China, Liberation and Transformation'' (1981) pp. 18–19</ref> are sometimes said to be "[[shame]]-based" rather than "guilt-based", in that the social consequences of "getting caught" are seen as more important than the individual feelings or experiences of the agent (see the work of [[Ruth Benedict]]). The same has been said of [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek society]], a culture where, in [[Bruno Snell]]'s words, if "honour is destroyed the moral existence of the loser collapses."<ref>Quoted in M. I. Finley, ''The World of Odysseus'' (1967) p. 136</ref>

This may lead to more of a focus on [[etiquette]] than on [[ethics]] as understood in Western civilization, leading some{{who|date=April 2012}} in Western civilizations to question why the word ''[[ethos]]'' was adapted from [[Ancient Greek]] with such vast differences in cultural norms. [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]] inherit most notions of guilt from [[Judaism]]{{citation needed|date=September 2014}},<ref>{{Cite web|last=Almond|first=Philip C.|title=In spite of their differences, Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God|url=http://theconversation.com/in-spite-of-their-differences-jews-christians-and-muslims-worship-the-same-god-83102|access-date=2020-10-13|website=The Conversation|date=6 September 2017 |language=en}}</ref> [[Ancient Persia|Persia]]n, and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] ideas, mostly as interpreted through [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], who adapted [[Plato]]'s ideas to Christianity. The [[Latin]] word for guilt is ''culpa'', a word sometimes seen in law literature, for instance in ''mea culpa'' meaning "my fault (guilt)".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of MEA CULPA|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mea+culpa|access-date=2020-10-13|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref>

=== In literature ===
Guilt is a main theme in [[John Steinbeck]]'s ''[[East of Eden (novel)|East of Eden]]'', [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'s ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'', Tennessee Williams' ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (play)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'', [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Macbeth]]'', [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s "[[The Tell-Tale Heart]]" and "[[The Black Cat (short story)|The Black Cat]]", and many other works of literature. In Sartre's ''[[The Flies]]'', the Furies (in the form of flies) represent the morbid, strangling forces of neurotic guilt which bind us to authoritarian and totalitarian power.<ref>Robert Fagles trans., ''The Oresteia'' (Penguin 1981) p. 92</ref>

Guilt is a major theme in many works by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nathaniel Hawthorne|url=https://americanliterature.com/author/nathaniel-hawthorne|access-date=2020-10-13|website=americanliterature.com}}</ref> and is an almost universal concern of novelists who explore inner [[life]] and [[secret]]s.

=== In Epicurean Philosophy ===
In his Kyriai Doxai ([[Principal Doctrines]]) 17 and 35, [[Epicurus]] teaches that we may identify and diagnose guilt by its signs and perturbations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kyriai Doxai|url=https://monadnock.net/epicurus/principal-doctrines.html|access-date=2022-07-29|website=Principal Doctrines.com}}</ref> Within his ethical system based on pleasure and pain, guilt manifests as constant fear of detection that emerges from "secretly doing something contrary to an agreement to not harm one another or be harmed".

Since Epicurus rejects supernatural claims, the easiest way to avoid this perturbation is to avoid the antisocial behavior in order to continue enjoying [[ataraxia]] (the state of no-perturbation). However, once guilt is unavoidable, Epicurean Guides recommended confession of one's offenses as a practice that helps to purge the character from its evil tendencies and reform the character. According to Norman DeWitt, author of "St Paul and Epicurus", confession was one of the Epicurean practices that was later appropriated by the early Christian communities.<ref>{{Cite web|title=St. Paul and Epicurus|url=https://archive.org/details/stpaulepicurus0000dewi/page/n219/mode/2up|access-date=2022-07-29|website=archive.org}}</ref>

=== In the Christian Bible ===
Guilt in the Christian [[Bible]] is not merely an emotional state; it is also a legal state of deserving punishment. The [[Hebrew Bible]] does not have a unique word for guilt, but uses a single word to signify: "sin, the guilt of it, the punishment due unto it, and a sacrifice for it."<ref>{{cite book |author=Owen, J. |chapter=Chapter 8|title=The Doctrine of Justification by Faith |publisher=Johnstone and Hunter |location=London |year=1850 |page=197}}</ref> The Greek [[New Testament]] uses a word for guilt that means "standing exposed to judgment for sin" (e. g., [[Romans 3]]:19). In what Christians call the "[[Old Testament]]", Christians believe the Bible teaches that, through sacrifice, one's sins can be forgiven (Judaism categorically rejects this idea, holding that forgiveness of sin is exclusively through repentance, and the role of sacrifices was for atonement of sins committed by accident or ignorance <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/11-08-02.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703092253/shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/11-08-02.html|title=S.C.J. FAQ: Section 11.8.2. Sacrifices: What replaced animal sacrifices in Jewish practice?|archive-date=July 3, 2010}}</ref>).

The [[New Testament]] says that forgiveness is given as written in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4: "3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, for that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, salvation is granted based on God's grace and forgiveness (Gen 6:8; 19:19; Exo 33:12–17; 34:6–7).

The New Testament says that, in [[Jesus Christ]], God took upon Himself the sins of the world and died on the cross to pay mankind's debt (Rom 6:23). Those who repent and accept Christ's sacrifice for their sins, will be redeemed by God and thus not guilty before Him. They will be granted eternal life which will take effect after the [[Second Coming|Second Coming of Christ]] (1 Thess 4:13–18).

The Bible agrees with pagan cultures that guilt creates a cost that someone must pay (Heb 9:22). (This assumption was expressed in the previous section, "Defences": "Guilty people punish themselves if they have no opportunity to compensate the transgression that caused them to feel guilty. It was found that self-punishment did not occur if people had an opportunity to compensate the victim of their transgression.") Unlike pagan deities who demanded that debts for sin be paid by humans, God, according to the Bible, loved humanity enough to pay it Himself (Mat 5:45).