A well-worn French proverb pronounces ‘tout comprendre c’est tout pardonner’ (‘to understand all is to forgive all’). Is forgiveness the inevitable consequence of social scientific understanding of the actions and lives of perpetrators of serious wrongdoing? Do social scientific explanations provide excuses or justifications for the perpetrators of the actions that the explanations purport to explain? In this essay, I seek clarification of these intertwined explanatory and moral questions.

中文翻译：

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辩解和辩解：与之相关的解释和理解是什么？

一条破旧的法国谚语发音为“ tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner ”（“了解一切就是宽恕一切”）。宽恕是社会科学认识严重不法行为者的行为和生活的必然结果吗？社会科学解释是否为解释者意图解释的行为的实施者提供借口或辩解？在本文中，我希望澄清这些相互交织的解释性问题和道德问题。