Usually, apologies are made by using non-conditional utterances: “I apologize for ruining your evening!” Very little, if any, attention has been given so far to conditional apologies which typically use utterances such as “If I have ruined your evening, I apologize!” This paper argues that such conditional utterances can constitute genuine apologies and play important moral roles in situations of uncertainty. It also proposes a closer analysis of such conditional apologies (rejecting some alternative accounts) and contrasts them with unconditional apologies.

中文翻译：

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对不起如果！关于有条件的道歉

通常，道歉是通过使用无条件的话语来表达的：“我为毁了你的夜晚而道歉！” 到目前为止，很少（如果有的话）关注有条件的道歉，这些道歉通常使用诸如“如果我毁了你的夜晚，我道歉！”之类的话语。本文认为，这种有条件的话语可以构成真正的道歉，并在不确定的情况下发挥重要的道德作用。它还建议对这种有条件的道歉（拒绝一些替代的说法）进行更仔细的分析，并将它们与无条件的道歉进行对比。