Guilt, Suffering and Responsibility

This paper examines the moral significance of guilt in the of how students confront the suffering of another. social-justice education, such confrontations are often in pedagogical efforts to encourage students to assume responsibility. Frequently, however, the guilt that claim to endure as a result of these pedagogical is not perceived to be of much ethical import. By the psychoanalytic wor kof Melanie Klein and the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, this essay argues guilt arises out of our susceptibility to another's pain and it plays a crucial role both in `making reparation' 'Klein) and in the very formation of responsibility itself 'Levinas).