What makes a good excuse work? A Cambridge philosopher may have the answer

(University of Cambridge) The things we appeal to when making excuses are myriad: tiredness, stress, a looming work deadline, a wailing infant. But what do these various excuses have in common that allows us to recognize them all as plausible? A researcher from Cambridge University has suggested that the answers lie in what they all tell us about our underlying motivation. When excuses are permissible, it's because they show that while we acted wrongly, our underlying moral intentions were adequate.
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news