Rude Actions: An Ethical Analysis

In this essay I analyze rude actions from the vantage point of morality. I propose to point out how rudeness relates to other moral concepts such as moral expectation, supererogation, offence, moral vice, and complicity, in the hopes of deepening our understanding of the ethical character of rude actions. For the purposes of this essay I characterize rudeness as acting so as to offend others. One type of rudeness which is supremely blameworthy is rudeness for rudeness sake. At the other end of the spectrum is unintentional rudeness, which is blameworthy when the person performing the rude action is culpable for not acquiring information which could have prevented that action. Under the heading of rude actions I include deliberate omissions.