#  On Giving and Taking Offense with Emily McTernan 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **September 19, 2024** 

 04:30PM - 06:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA**  



 

 



 

 ![emily_mcternan_public_lecture_cc_banner_2.png](/sites/g/files/omnuum9911/files/center-for-ethics/files/emily_mcternan_public_lecture_cc_banner_2.png)

 

The popular perception of taking offense is that it is a bad thing: at best, revealing a weakness of character, at worst, being a technique for shutting down debate and discussion. This lecture offers a defense of offense as a misunderstood emotion that deserves rehabilitation. Reflecting on jokes that have caused offense, I examine two mistaken beliefs about offense: the first, that taking offense is an expression of hurt feelings and reveals one’s vulnerability; the second, that offense tends to have catastrophic consequences. I will offer a different picture of what it is to take offense, as a far more domestic, if potent, piece of our social interactions and a way of resisting affronts to our social standing. I then turn to the aftermath of having given offense. I will discuss what does – and doesn’t – make for a good apology for having offended someone and what it is about jokes that might make them so prone to causing offense.

[Lecture handout PDF.](/file_url/2207)



 

 [ Watch On Giving and Taking Offense here arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRoxMc4Ig1o) 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

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