la Cour, Kirstine; (2025) The Pursuit of Repair. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis develops an account of the possibility and desirability of interpersonal moral repair. A dominant strain of philosophical thought has cast interpersonal moral repair as a problem of redistributive or corrective justice. According to this picture, to wrong another is to unfairly deprive her of goods that are rightfully hers, and to repair is to compensate her for these losses, leaving her no worse off than she would otherwise have been. Despite its wide acceptance, I argue that this conception of repair is both explanatorily and ethically untenable. In its place, I develop an account that centres the need for mutual understanding. Philosophers have underestimated how agentially demanding the pursuit of mutual understanding can be, but also failed to see its profound creative potential. The pursuit of mutual understanding, I argue, provides opportunities for challenging and revising our interpersonal norms and values, and not just for applying or expressing the commitments we already hold. Appreciating this creative potential of repair illuminates the value, and not just the cost, of our mutual vulnerability. In the course of developing and defending this proposal, I also offer an account of testimony as a joint project and of protest as a means for generating and sustaining a sense of self-respect.

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