ABSTRACT
Gratitude is the return of good for good. Generally, it is a positive emotion someone undergoes in response to another one’s attention, love, fidelity or any other kind of material or immaterial good. Clarifying the intentional structure of gratitude requires making explicit its cognitive content. The fact that the beneficiary’s gratitude is a response to another one’s benevolent intention, which is perceived or otherwise immediately grasped, is of crucial importance to understand what gratitude is and achieves. Both in philosophical and psychological literature, gratitude is usually understood as a positive emotion suited to enhance social cohesion and individual well-being. The sense of justice relevant here does not refer to entitlements and obligations. It addresses the right and decent manner to encounter one’s fellow humans as it is reflected in the very manner of giving and receiving benefits.
