Secular Café: Understanding vs Excusing

Secular Café Discuss philosophical concepts and moral issues.

Understanding vs Excusing May 27th 2012, 19:40 Rather than go off in somebody else's thread, I'm making a new one. I often run into the mindset that equates the understanding of why somebody does something - anything - with excusing that behavior. As if to say that if we, as a jury or just as human beings, understand the train of incidents and/or genetics and/or whatever else that led to an instance of wrongdoing, then we are bound to just pat them on the head and let them go on their merry way. I don't get that at all. I really don't understand why those two are connected. They aren't connected at all for me - I can understand what led someone to do a heinous crime without letting them off the hook for responsibility for their actions. Can somebody explain that linkage to me? Why does understanding equal excusing?

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