ABSTRACT
Social life involves taking or giving credit and blame, but assignment of credit and blame also involves relations to other people. Nihilists, saints, and utilitarians may imagine worlds in which relations to specific other humans don't matter so long as accounts come out right with the cosmos, with the gods, or with humanity at large. The origins of the words credit and blame clearly communicate their social basis. Credit comes from the Latin credere, to trust or believe. Blame comes from the Latin blasphemare, to revile or blaspheme. Far beyond the assignment of credit and blame, people across the world typically package their social experiences in stories: explanatory narratives incorporating limited numbers of actors, just a few actions, and simplified cause-effect accounts in which the actors' actions produce all the significant outcomes.
