Lectures
What is covered, week by week, and which topics each lecture draws on.
Twelve lectures, grouped into the seven movements the semester actually moves through. Each movement adds a complication the last one didn’t have to deal with — the grouping below is the shape of that argument, not just a schedule.
Movement AWhat is an apology?
Movement BWhat is an apology made of?
Taking an Apology Apart
A public apology gets marked up line by line into four separable components, and the marking reveals how few of them most apologies actually contain
Week 2 · 1 March 2027
The Parts That Do the Work
Two apologies, two different components turn out to be doing the work — an ablation test replaces the hunt for one universal hierarchy
Week 3 · 8 March 2027
Movement CWhy do apologies fail?
The Non-Apology
Four statements that sound like apologies fail for four different structural reasons — a checklist of bad phrases would miss all of them
Week 4 · 15 March 2027
Whose Apology Is It?
Four things an apology can accomplish for the speaker, and a test for telling them apart that doesn't require reading anyone's mind
Week 5 · 22 March 2027
Movement DHow does context change an apology?
Public and Private Don't Apologise the Same Way
The same incident, two apologies — one specific and private, one vague and public — and neither wording choice is simply better
Week 6 · 29 March 2027
Timing and Medium Change the Words
The same sentence, sent two minutes after an argument and again three weeks later — identical wording, and only one of them is doing anything
Week 7 · 5 April 2027
Movement EWho has the power to apologise, demand one, or reject one?
Who Has to Apologise?
Two colleagues, two mistakes, and only one of them produces a fast, personal apology — the difference is who can afford to let it sit
Week 8 · 12 April 2027
Who Gets to Accept It?
A friend says "I hear you, thanks for saying that" and keeps their distance for months — which of seven different things just happened?
Week 9 · 19 April 2027
Movement FWhat happens after sorry?
Saying Sorry Is Not Repairing Harm
A courier apologises well, refunds the loss, and does nothing about the depot process that caused it — three months later, the same thing happens again
Week 10 · 26 April 2027
When Not to Apologise
A team lead says "sorry if anyone was affected by my decision" within the hour — before anyone knows what decision, or whether it was theirs
Week 11 · 3 May 2027