ABSTRACT
Guilt arises out of negation of the principles of social order, and their expression in hierarchy. Pyramidal magic—the magic of hierarchy—is inevitable in social relations, and it is not the individual, but his hierarchal office which contains and generates the charisma of a hierarchal order. There are now two other moments in social interaction which must be considered. These are redemption and victimage, or the ways by which this chapter deals with failure or threats of failure in social organization. A purely social terminology of human relations must deal with the problem of guilt as a failure in society to provide means of expiation of guilt. Burke proposes, as models for social and private mortification, the religious concepts of "original sin" and "actual sin". The dramas of guilt and redemption which characterized feudal Europe affect the science and technology, just as they have affected the function and structure of all modern literature, religion, and political life.
