Remorselessness

[Base groove]

From Wikipedia:

As human beings, we hold dear to the value of remorse. The lack of remorse leads us to all believe a person to be despicable. It is widely accepted that remorse is the proper reaction to any misconduct. Remorse may originate in from either actual or contrived regret for the misconduct that results in getting caught or causing harm. Research has shown that the facial expressions of offenders on trial affect the jury's attitude and, in turn, the sentencing decision. While remorse may present guilt that may influence a jury's decision, a lack of remorse influences the jury even more because it is one trait of psychopathy.
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Musings about remorse/remorselessness, related to this and other segments of the wiki article:

~ Is it essential to function properly as a human?
~ Is it normal/appropriate to express non-genuine or fake remorse, even if it is shown to be more convincing?
~ A jury being affected by the expression (or lack) of remorse and administering harsher penalties as a result ... fair and impartial? Flaw in the system or necessary, fundamental component?
~ Are the harshest penalties reserved for the remorseless? Probably not, but should they be? Is death (or its equivalent) the only answer?


Story about remorselessness:

Spoiler

A man in his sixties drives his car through the glass fence enclosing a street-level outdoor patio in the middle of the day, colliding with a table where a family is having lunch with two children. The man's vehicle traps the couple's two year old child against the building, killing it. The child's father becomes hysterically aggressive with the elderly man, causing the bystanders to forcefully remove the aggressive man from the area and drag him in his psychotic state across the parking lot so he could not harm the elderly man who had just killed his child. Later it is discovered the old man behind the wheel was drunk, and a repeat offender, who had somehow slipped through the cracks and managed to keep his license even in the wake of a persistent pattern of drunk driving and remorselessness.

So, is the boy's father remorseful for his psychotic episode?
Would he have been remorseful if he did manage to confront the driver?
And the onlookers who pulled him away?

 

[Anktark]

Is remorse kind of a mix between guilt, shame and empathy? Because if it's a feeling then I can't detect that. Much like humility, which is my subjective view of other people in their favour and is based solely on the fact that I value the possible knowledge they potentially could have than the one I already do.

 

[paradoxparadigm7]

Good post! I will take two perspectives on this matter. The individual versus the collective.

From an individual stance, a lack of remorse is not essential to function if by function you mean self-sustaining. A person who lacks remorse can hold down a job, scam the system, or do whatever he/she needs to keep themselves alive. They can interact with others, find pleasure and exist peacefully. It is however useful to the individual. If I am remorseful I can take a holistic approach to living in society whereby I no longer have a sharp divider between myself and others rather a more malleable and fluid approach between the two. This will make the tension between myself and others less adversarial and more cooperative.

From a collective stance, remorse is useful and desirable since those who can access remorse are at least in theory less likely to commit the same act that precipitated the feeling. Remorse is also appeasement to the sufferer. Much like animals who have crossed a behavioral boundary, the show of contrition can help deescalate a highly charged situation. What is actually going on inside, no one can tell but looking remorseful can help soothe.

I know you asked more questions but I'll stop there for now...