Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31820/ejap.13.1.2
Justifying Oneself
Mark Piper
; James Madison University
Abstract
At present, the activity of justifying oneself is mostly discussed in psychology, where it is typically viewed as a negative or at least regrettable activity involving changing one’s attitudes, beliefs, and feelings in order to minimize psychological threats arising from cognitive dissonance. Yet there is conceptual space, even a need, for an analysis of justifying oneself that is more content-neutral in nature. In this paper I provide such an analysis. Along the way I also briefly canvass some of the empirical work on self- justification in psychology and gesture towards issues surrounding the normative significance of the practice of justifying oneself.
Keywords
justification; self-justification; self-defence; commitment; internal justification; external justification; dialectical interaction
Hrčak ID:
188211
URI
Publication date:
24.10.2017.
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