This paper examines how the Swedish nationalistic political party Sverigedemokraterna communicates regarding the crisis they experienced when the Swedish newspaper Expressen published a few video clips of three, in that time, highly important party members that got in an argument after a late night of drinking. Two of the party members were at the time of the publication the members of the Swedish parliament and all of them had important senior positions in the party. In the argument one of the party members used abusive, offensive, sexist and racist language while all acted threatening and even armed themselves with iron bars from a nearby construction site.The aim of this paper is to examine how the party Sverigedemokraterna conducts their crisis communication, if they apologies and the fashion of the apology. A press conference with the party leader and the most active user of abusive language and also an interview with the second member of parliament who is involved in the argument are studied. The rhetorical arena is used to describe and pinpoint the most important stakeholders in the crisis. Hearits structure “from wrongdoing to absolution” is used to describe the crisis and it’s context. Benoits apologiastrategies and Hearits requirements for an ethical apologia are used to describe and assess the crisis communication and apologia at the press conference and interview.The paper concludes that the individuals who communicate the apologia use different strategies. The party leaders focus is towards the future and corrective actions while claiming not to have all the necessary information. The other two party members portray themselves as victims. One of them apologizes while the other only acknowledges wrongdoing without apologizing. They all acknowledge wrongdoing.

The way we understand community fundamentally structures the way we approach justice. In opposition to totalizing structures of justice founded upon an ontological conception of community, Emmanuel Levinas conceives the possibility of a political or social structure of difference. I argue that the conceptions of community presented by Kant and Heidegger, either as a harmonious, unified being in common, or as a common-identity disclosed beneath the ontological horizon of being-with, necessarily leads to violence. This violence is reflected in the forms of justice instantiated by these philosophies, which privilege the ‘light’ of the universal over the particularity of individuals in the face-to-face encounter, ultimately corrupting and nullifying one’s anarchic moral responsibility for the Other. The intent of this thesis is to argue that justice can only remain just if it is seen, not on the basis of a communal ‘light’ that absorbs, integrates, and incorporates the Other as an element of a system, but as founded on the anarchic responsibility of the one-for-the-Other. Justice, I will show, cannot be seen as an aim of a community—complete and self-sufficient—in achieving an end, but as a rupture, a disturbance, as a call made among a multitude of particular, unique Others by which ethics (the face-to-face) is fundamental.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The aim of this study is to explore and encourage the use of accounts in the sense that events occur in our societies that compel those who are victims of those circumstances to give account of their experiences. The theme of this study is based on statements about events such as abuse, cheating, death and being HIV positive and on answers to such events. In respect of the theory of image restoration, Benoit (1995) discusses why people should give account of their wrongdoings and narrate such events. He states that language and communication practitioners as well as the great philosophers in communities have an interest in how image restoration works in our communities. This research focuses on the Benoit theory. People give account in everyday life of their wrongdoings or of accusations of wrongdoing, since this helps to restore their reputations. The focus of this study is on the use of accounts in Xhosa culture as a strategy in the narration of life stories. According to Benoit (1995), accounts are excuses and justifications that are responses to offence or failure events such as requests for an account of the violation of a norm, of the rebuke of another person and of the expression of surprise or disgust at certain behaviours. This study illustrates how to give account of your own experience. In this regard, Gergen (1994) states that the term “self-narrative” refers to an individual’s account of the relationship of self-relevant events across time, while White and Epston (1990) state that people give meaning to their lives and relationships by narrating stories about their experience of life.

This study entitled "Justice and Discipline: Analysis of Institutional Control Practices in the Military Police of the State of Sergipe (2001-2009)" aims to examine the practices of institutional control and consequent restatements in disciplinary power in the period between 2001 to 2009, whereas these restatements reflect the search for elements reaffirmation of the effective exercise of power practiced within the hierarchical relationships-disciplinary. The reaffirmation of the domain of military authority, at any given time, assumed the aspect of a discourse oriented legal grounds to punish the act. The emergence of "new" procedures of accountability and culpability of the offender characterized the concern of military authority regarding maintenance of disciplinary content of hierarchical relationships. Using the documentary research, based on publications made in bulletin Overall, the analysis focused practices of empowerment appealed also to speak of the subject, trying, through discourse agents, make an overview of the concepts and representations concerning discipline and justice. In the scenario presented by institutional PMSE during the period in question, the transgression appears as one of the categories of the phenomenon of misconduct, thoughtful, often from two angles: the relations disciplinary transgression in this case was taken as a result of disobedience, the penalty being applied in the form of educational intervention, the background takes misconduct in higher degree, considering it as a serious deviation from the behavior, distanced professional ethics and responsible for military cause problems, eg, the police violence. During selected view which tried to design transgression existing in the institution and how it justifies the notion of "disciplining" and criminal liability and administrative officer practiced by the military authority. Amid the data relating to punishments and disciplinary procedures and judicial perceive problems as the transparency of procedures, preventing often the external observation of practice and investigation of allegations of criminal offenses. There was also a more effective coercive apparatus for the application of disciplinary punishments related to the discipline of the troops, however, this efficacy contrasts with the results of established procedures for verification of complaints of abuse of power committed by military police. One of the factors affecting the poor visibility of the route taken by the procedure is precisely the institutional design given by the militarism that treats the misconduct as something that concerns the military world, undermining a broader understanding of the effects of violence and transgression committed by police. / O presente estudo intitulado Justiça e Disciplina: Análise das Práticas de Controle Institucional na Polícia Militar do Estado de Sergipe (2001-2009) tem por objetivo analisar as práticas de controle institucional e as conseqüentes reformulações no poder disciplinar ocorridas no período entre 2001 a 2009, considerando que estas reformulações refletem a busca por elementos de reafirmação do exercício efetivo de poder praticado no interior das relações hierárquico-disciplinares. A reafirmação do domínio da autoridade militar, num dado momento, assumiu a faceta de um discurso orientado para a fundamentação legal do ato de punir. A emergência de novos procedimentos de responsabilização e de culpabilização do transgressor caracterizou a preocupação da autoridade militar quanto à manutenção do conteúdo disciplinar das relações hierárquicas. Utilizando da pesquisa documental, baseada nas publicações feitas em boletim geral, a análise direcionada às práticas de exercício de poder recorreu, também, à fala dos sujeitos, tentando, por meio do discurso dos agentes, fazer um apanhado das representações e das concepções relativas à disciplina e à justiça. No cenário institucional apresentado pela PMSE, no período em questão, a transgressão aparece como uma das categorias do fenômeno de desvio de conduta, pensada, freqüentemente, a partir de dois ângulos: o das relações disciplinares, nesse caso a transgressão era tida como resultado da desobediência, sendo a penalização aplicada sob a modalidade de intervenção pedagógica; o segundo plano toma o desvio de conduta em grau mais elevado, considerando-o como grave desvio do comportamento, distanciado da ética profissional militar e responsável por originar problemas como, por exemplo, o da violência policial. No período selecionado tentamos visualizar qual a concepção de transgressão existente na instituição e como esta fundamenta a noção de disciplinarização e de responsabilização criminal e administrativa do policial praticada pela autoridade militar. Em meio aos dados relativos às punições e processos disciplinares e judiciais percebemos problemas quanto à transparência dos procedimentos, inviabilizando, muitas vezes, a observação externa das práticas de apuração das transgressões e denúncias de crime. Verificou-se, também, uma maior eficácia do aparelho coercitivo disciplinar quanto à aplicação de punições relacionadas à disciplina da tropa, entretanto, essa eficácia contrasta com os resultados de procedimentos instaurados para verificação das denúncias de abuso de poder cometidos por policiais militares. Um dos fatores condicionantes da pouca visibilidade do percurso feito pelo procedimento é, justamente, o desenho institucional conferido pelo militarismo que trata o desvio de conduta como algo que diz respeito ao universo militar, prejudicando uma compreensão mais ampla dos efeitos da violência e da transgressão cometidas por policiais.

(in English) This dissertation explores the notions of guilt and wrongdoing in the context of contemporary analytic ethics. It draws upon the critique, advanced in the second half of the 20th century, of a one-sided interest in episodic action and its rightness or wrongness. Thanks to the revival of virtue ethics during this time, the subject matter of ethics was extended to take account of human character and human life as such. As a result, the domain of moral psychology and of contingent aspects of moral experience started to be explored again. This development in ethics is outlined in the first chapter and the second chapter addresses the impact of this changed understanding of ethics upon our conception of moral judgment and responsibility. I suggest that the concept of responsibility divides in two: responsibility for the agent's (inner) fault and responsibility for the wrongdoing itself. Whereas the remainder of chapter two deals with the former, the rest of the thesis focuses upon the latter i.e. upon responsibility for the wrongdoing and upon two problems which are generated by the intricate bearing of luck and contingency on the concept of responsibility. The first of these problems concerns the relation of the person to her guilt. Guilt arises through a condemnable action for which the...

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Cette thèse est une recherche pluridisciplinaire sur le concept du pardon interpersonnel. Elle cherche à circonscrire la portée et la dynamique du pardon, entre autres en répondant à la question Pourquoi pardonner ? Jusqu’à récemment on trouvait peu d’écrits sur le pardon. Mais les deux dernières décennies ont vu un foisonnement de travaux de recherche sur le sujet de la part de psychologues éveillés à ses bienfaits thérapeutiques. Parallèlement, des philosophes et des théologiens se sont aussi intéressés à la question et ont commencé à publier leurs réflexions. Deux hypothèses marquent le parcours de notre recherche. La première porte sur la signification de la deuxième partie de l’énoncé biblique en Luc 23, 34 « Père, pardonne-leur car ils ne savent pas ce qu’ils font ». Elle avance que le « motif de l’ignorance » que cette parole affirme a une portée universelle et soutient que l’offenseur est en état d’ignorance inconsciente lorsqu’il fait le mal. Le pardon des offenses serait donc le pardon de cette ignorance inconsciente. La seconde hypothèse conjecture que le pardon interpersonnel s’inscrit dans une dynamique spirituelle même s’il a quitté ses amarres religieuses. Nous avançons que la relation pardon-spiritualité est significative et que sa compréhension peut aider à mieux saisir l’essence d’un pardon devenu séculier et à en permettre l’éclosion. Pour établir la valeur de cette hypothèse, nous devons étudier la dynamique d’une démarche de pardon de même qu’à déterminer le statut actuel de la spiritualité. La thèse se divise en trois parties. La première partie expose la pensée d’auteurs significatifs dans chacune des principales disciplines concernées par le pardon : philosophie, théologie, psychologie et spiritualité. Il y est question d’offense pardonnable ou impardonnable, de pardon conditionnel ou inconditionnel, de corrélats du pardon comme l’oubli, la colère, la culpabilité, le repentir et des résultats d’études empiriques psychothérapeutiques sur le pardon. Cette première partie se termine par une réflexion sur la spiritualité de façon à voir dans quelle mesure le pardon devient une dynamique spirituelle. La deuxième partie est consacrée à l’examen de l’hypothèse concernant le sens et la portée du « car ils ne savent pas ce qu’ils font ». Dans un premier temps on fait appel à l’expertise exégétique pour situer l’authenticité et la portée de ce passage. Nous explorons ensuite la pensée philosophique à travers l’histoire pour comprendre le véritable sens du libre-arbitre et son impact sur la conception de la faute. La remise en cause philosophique du libre-arbitre nous ramènera à la thèse socratique selon laquelle « Nul n’est méchant volontairement ». La théorie mimétique de René Girard vient démontrer que les persécuteurs sont fondamentalement inconscients de ce qu’ils font et la théologienne Lytta Basset identifie le fantasme de la connaissance du bien et du mal comme accroissant cette ignorance qui s’ignore. La troisième partie de la thèse intègre les réflexions et découvertes des deux premières parties, et les situent dans un parcours qui va de l’impardonnable à la guérison, tout en les conceptualisant avec une matrice de verticalité et d’horizontalité qui schématise leurs interactions. Nous découvrons que si « car ils ne savent pas ce qu’ils font » fournit la réponse logique à la question Pourquoi pardonner ?, il existe aussi une deuxième voie qui conduit au pardon, l’amour. L’amour est la clé du pardon basé sur le message évangélique, alors que l’empathie est celle de l’approche psychothérapeutique. Enfin, la comparaison entre le « pardon psychothérapeutique » et le « pardon évangélique » nous fait conclure qu’il y a deux modes d’accès majeurs au pardon : la raison et l’amour. / This thesis is a multidisciplinary approach to the concept of interpersonal forgiveness. Its purpose is to unearth the scope and dynamics of forgiveness, as it seeks to answer the question, Why forgive? Up until recently, there has been a dearth of literature on the subject of forgiveness. Then over the past 20 years, an escalation of psychotherapeutic research on forgiveness started to emerge as psychologists awakened to its healing benefits. Over the same time period, a number of philosophers and theologians also began publishing on the subject. Two hypotheses benchmark the research. The first one concerns the meaning of the second half of the biblical quote, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” found in Luke 23:34. This hypothesis claims that the “motive of ignorance” is universal in scope, and purports that the offender is ignorantly unaware of his wrongdoing. Forgiveness of an offense can thus be interpreted as the forgiveness of ignorance. The second hypothesis claims that interpersonal forgiveness can be understood as a spiritual dynamic, but with the loosening of its religious ties. We believe the forgiveness–spirituality relationship to be a significant one, and that a deeper understanding of it will bring us closer to the fundamental nature and gift of forgiveness, thereby facilitating its realization. However, to determine the value of this hypothesis, we must consider both the process of forgiveness, and the contemporary definition of spirituality. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part depicts authors who discuss forgiveness through the lens of the four academic disciplines concerned with forgiveness: philosophy, theology, psychology, and spirituality. Issues that are covered include what is forgivable and what is not, and conditional versus unconditional forgiveness. Correlates of forgiveness, such as forgetting, anger, repentance, guilt, as well as results of psychotherapeutic empirical studies, are examined. A reflection on the concept of spirituality and how it relates to forgiveness concludes this first part. In the second part, we examine the hypothesis concerning the meaning and scope of the biblical quote “for they know not what they do,” and look at what the exegetic expertise has to say about its authenticity and meaning. This is followed by a historical interpretation of free will in major philosophical thinking in order to grasp its true sense, and its impact on the concept of personal responsibility. This philosophical questioning of free will brings us back to the Socratic thesis, “No one commits wrongdoing voluntarily.” Finally, the mimetic theory of René Girard contends that persecutors are fundamentally unaware and ignorant of what they are doing, and the theologian Lytta Basset argues that the illusion of knowing what is good and what is evil contributes to the ignorance that ignores itself. The third part of the thesis integrates the reflections and insights of the first two parts, as it brings forgiveness from the unforgivable endpoint to the healing endpoint. This is conceptualized in a schematic matrix of vertical and horizontal interactions. We discover that if the phrase “for they know not what they do” offers a reason-able answer to the question Why forgive? there is as well a second way that leads to forgiveness—love. Love is the key to forgiveness based on the evangelical message, while empathy is the primary means in the psychotherapeutic approach. Comparing “psychotherapeutic forgiveness” with “evangelical forgiveness” leads us to conclude that there are, in effect, two principal ways to access the gift of forgiveness—reason and love.

Cette thèse est une recherche pluridisciplinaire sur le concept du pardon interpersonnel. Elle cherche à circonscrire la portée et la dynamique du pardon, entre autres en répondant à la question Pourquoi pardonner ? Jusqu’à récemment on trouvait peu d’écrits sur le pardon. Mais les deux dernières décennies ont vu un foisonnement de travaux de recherche sur le sujet de la part de psychologues éveillés à ses bienfaits thérapeutiques. Parallèlement, des philosophes et des théologiens se sont aussi intéressés à la question et ont commencé à publier leurs réflexions. Deux hypothèses marquent le parcours de notre recherche. La première porte sur la signification de la deuxième partie de l’énoncé biblique en Luc 23, 34 « Père, pardonne-leur car ils ne savent pas ce qu’ils font ». Elle avance que le « motif de l’ignorance » que cette parole affirme a une portée universelle et soutient que l’offenseur est en état d’ignorance inconsciente lorsqu’il fait le mal. Le pardon des offenses serait donc le pardon de cette ignorance inconsciente. La seconde hypothèse conjecture que le pardon interpersonnel s’inscrit dans une dynamique spirituelle même s’il a quitté ses amarres religieuses. Nous avançons que la relation pardon-spiritualité est significative et que sa compréhension peut aider à mieux saisir l’essence d’un pardon devenu séculier et à en permettre l’éclosion. Pour établir la valeur de cette hypothèse, nous devons étudier la dynamique d’une démarche de pardon de même qu’à déterminer le statut actuel de la spiritualité. La thèse se divise en trois parties. La première partie expose la pensée d’auteurs significatifs dans chacune des principales disciplines concernées par le pardon : philosophie, théologie, psychologie et spiritualité. Il y est question d’offense pardonnable ou impardonnable, de pardon conditionnel ou inconditionnel, de corrélats du pardon comme l’oubli, la colère, la culpabilité, le repentir et des résultats d’études empiriques psychothérapeutiques sur le pardon. Cette première partie se termine par une réflexion sur la spiritualité de façon à voir dans quelle mesure le pardon devient une dynamique spirituelle. La deuxième partie est consacrée à l’examen de l’hypothèse concernant le sens et la portée du « car ils ne savent pas ce qu’ils font ». Dans un premier temps on fait appel à l’expertise exégétique pour situer l’authenticité et la portée de ce passage. Nous explorons ensuite la pensée philosophique à travers l’histoire pour comprendre le véritable sens du libre-arbitre et son impact sur la conception de la faute. La remise en cause philosophique du libre-arbitre nous ramènera à la thèse socratique selon laquelle « Nul n’est méchant volontairement ». La théorie mimétique de René Girard vient démontrer que les persécuteurs sont fondamentalement inconscients de ce qu’ils font et la théologienne Lytta Basset identifie le fantasme de la connaissance du bien et du mal comme accroissant cette ignorance qui s’ignore. La troisième partie de la thèse intègre les réflexions et découvertes des deux premières parties, et les situent dans un parcours qui va de l’impardonnable à la guérison, tout en les conceptualisant avec une matrice de verticalité et d’horizontalité qui schématise leurs interactions. Nous découvrons que si « car ils ne savent pas ce qu’ils font » fournit la réponse logique à la question Pourquoi pardonner ?, il existe aussi une deuxième voie qui conduit au pardon, l’amour. L’amour est la clé du pardon basé sur le message évangélique, alors que l’empathie est celle de l’approche psychothérapeutique. Enfin, la comparaison entre le « pardon psychothérapeutique » et le « pardon évangélique » nous fait conclure qu’il y a deux modes d’accès majeurs au pardon : la raison et l’amour. / This thesis is a multidisciplinary approach to the concept of interpersonal forgiveness. Its purpose is to unearth the scope and dynamics of forgiveness, as it seeks to answer the question, Why forgive? Up until recently, there has been a dearth of literature on the subject of forgiveness. Then over the past 20 years, an escalation of psychotherapeutic research on forgiveness started to emerge as psychologists awakened to its healing benefits. Over the same time period, a number of philosophers and theologians also began publishing on the subject. Two hypotheses benchmark the research. The first one concerns the meaning of the second half of the biblical quote, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” found in Luke 23:34. This hypothesis claims that the “motive of ignorance” is universal in scope, and purports that the offender is ignorantly unaware of his wrongdoing. Forgiveness of an offense can thus be interpreted as the forgiveness of ignorance. The second hypothesis claims that interpersonal forgiveness can be understood as a spiritual dynamic, but with the loosening of its religious ties. We believe the forgiveness–spirituality relationship to be a significant one, and that a deeper understanding of it will bring us closer to the fundamental nature and gift of forgiveness, thereby facilitating its realization. However, to determine the value of this hypothesis, we must consider both the process of forgiveness, and the contemporary definition of spirituality. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part depicts authors who discuss forgiveness through the lens of the four academic disciplines concerned with forgiveness: philosophy, theology, psychology, and spirituality. Issues that are covered include what is forgivable and what is not, and conditional versus unconditional forgiveness. Correlates of forgiveness, such as forgetting, anger, repentance, guilt, as well as results of psychotherapeutic empirical studies, are examined. A reflection on the concept of spirituality and how it relates to forgiveness concludes this first part. In the second part, we examine the hypothesis concerning the meaning and scope of the biblical quote “for they know not what they do,” and look at what the exegetic expertise has to say about its authenticity and meaning. This is followed by a historical interpretation of free will in major philosophical thinking in order to grasp its true sense, and its impact on the concept of personal responsibility. This philosophical questioning of free will brings us back to the Socratic thesis, “No one commits wrongdoing voluntarily.” Finally, the mimetic theory of René Girard contends that persecutors are fundamentally unaware and ignorant of what they are doing, and the theologian Lytta Basset argues that the illusion of knowing what is good and what is evil contributes to the ignorance that ignores itself. The third part of the thesis integrates the reflections and insights of the first two parts, as it brings forgiveness from the unforgivable endpoint to the healing endpoint. This is conceptualized in a schematic matrix of vertical and horizontal interactions. We discover that if the phrase “for they know not what they do” offers a reason-able answer to the question Why forgive? there is as well a second way that leads to forgiveness—love. Love is the key to forgiveness based on the evangelical message, while empathy is the primary means in the psychotherapeutic approach. Comparing “psychotherapeutic forgiveness” with “evangelical forgiveness” leads us to conclude that there are, in effect, two principal ways to access the gift of forgiveness—reason and love.

A presente tese propõe um modelo de injusto penal rigorosamente dualista, assimentendido aquele que, ao lado do desvalor da ação, exija sempre e necessariamente a efetivaocorrência de um desvalor do resultado, consistente na afetação, danosa ou perigosa, da esferade existência de terceiros. A hipótese que conduz a investigação é a de que, mesmo diante dosmovimentos expansionistas do poder punitivo hoje verificados, é possível defender a viabilidade de tal concepção de injusto penal. Para a demonstração dessa hipótese, parte-se domodelo dual de sociedade proposto por Jürgen Habermas, que tem na teoria do agircomunicativo a chave para a proteção do mundo da vida frente aos influxos colonizatóriosprovenientes dos sistemas econômico e político administrativo. A partir desse marco teórico,propõe-se uma releitura de alguns dos conceitos fundamentais da teoria do delito, de modo aconferir-lhes interpretação compatível com a concepção dualista rigorosa de injusto adotada.Por fim, para verificar a plausibilidade da hipótese colocada, tais conceitos fundamentais sãopostos à prova diante de situações teóricas tradicionalmente classificadas como de difícilconciliação com uma concepção de injusto baseada na necessária ocorrência de desvalor doresultado, como é o caso dos crimes de perigo abstrato e dos crimes tentados. / The thesis you have in hands proposes a concept of crime in which wrongdoing and harmfulness must be always combined and considered together as elements of a criminal offense in order to demonstrate the real affectation of third parties. The main hypothesis is that even facing an expansionist tendency toward incarceration and overcriminalization it is still possible to defend the viability of such a concept of crime. With the purpose of demonstrate this hypothesis, the Habermas's dualistic society model and his theory of communicative action are taken as a point of departure and based on them we intend to review some of the elements that compose the concept of criminal offense. Finally, the thesis will be challenged against controversial existing rulings (such as victimless crimes) to verify if their reasoning are compatible with such a dualistic concept of crime, which deny the possibility of existing criminal offenses without harm to others.

A presente tese propõe um modelo de injusto penal rigorosamente dualista, assimentendido aquele que, ao lado do desvalor da ação, exija sempre e necessariamente a efetivaocorrência de um desvalor do resultado, consistente na afetação, danosa ou perigosa, da esferade existência de terceiros. A hipótese que conduz a investigação é a de que, mesmo diante dosmovimentos expansionistas do poder punitivo hoje verificados, é possível defender a viabilidade de tal concepção de injusto penal. Para a demonstração dessa hipótese, parte-se domodelo dual de sociedade proposto por Jürgen Habermas, que tem na teoria do agircomunicativo a chave para a proteção do mundo da vida frente aos influxos colonizatóriosprovenientes dos sistemas econômico e político administrativo. A partir desse marco teórico,propõe-se uma releitura de alguns dos conceitos fundamentais da teoria do delito, de modo aconferir-lhes interpretação compatível com a concepção dualista rigorosa de injusto adotada.Por fim, para verificar a plausibilidade da hipótese colocada, tais conceitos fundamentais sãopostos à prova diante de situações teóricas tradicionalmente classificadas como de difícilconciliação com uma concepção de injusto baseada na necessária ocorrência de desvalor doresultado, como é o caso dos crimes de perigo abstrato e dos crimes tentados. / The thesis you have in hands proposes a concept of crime in which wrongdoing and harmfulness must be always combined and considered together as elements of a criminal offense in order to demonstrate the real affectation of third parties. The main hypothesis is that even facing an expansionist tendency toward incarceration and overcriminalization it is still possible to defend the viability of such a concept of crime. With the purpose of demonstrate this hypothesis, the Habermas's dualistic society model and his theory of communicative action are taken as a point of departure and based on them we intend to review some of the elements that compose the concept of criminal offense. Finally, the thesis will be challenged against controversial existing rulings (such as victimless crimes) to verify if their reasoning are compatible with such a dualistic concept of crime, which deny the possibility of existing criminal offenses without harm to others.