Another question!

[forsyth]

If innocent is the opposite of guilty, would someone who doesn't feel guilty about whatever they did still be an innocent, then?

Yes, theoretically, this could be extended to make psychopaths be innocents, which is actually something I think has been covered rather extensively in literature. But I mean it in a more fantasy sense, like all the magical items and creatures and tests that talk about somebody of "innocent heart" or whatever, if somebody'd done bad things but didn't feel guilty, would that be a way around them?

Comments

[frustratedpilot]

I'd think the deed itself counts far more than the emotion or the memory.

Or put another way, what about the person who feels pathological guilt but has never done anything wrong?

[forsythferret.livejournal.com]

That's the flipside of it.

I guess it really depends on the metaphysics of the world in question. If there's an absolute stick of right/wrong, that can be tapped into by the doohickey in question, then it doesn't matter what the person thinks. But if there isn't an aboslute standard, or if it can't be tapped into, it becomes more complicated.