As a response to beneficence, gratitude seems to include certain judgments or beliefs at the very least, the belief that an act of beneficence has occurred (Berger 1975: 302; Walker 1980 1981: 51980 1981
In response to her gratitude, James simply shrugged and said, "Well I just wanted to make sure your heart was okay," the singer wrote. .
In response to this, obligationists about gratitude might point out that there are indeed certain acts of gratitude that seem to admit of no latitude specifically, acceding to a reasonable request from a benefactor in need, or refraining from harming a benefactor in certain ways when opportunities to do so arise (see section 3.4.1).
Our first response to life should be gratitude and wonder that we share this remarkable world so far beyond our poor power to grasp.
It might be fairer to say that many of the elements of gratitude can be explained by or accounted for in an emotion (what we might call the emotion of gratitude), but there is more to gratitude (the proper response to an act of beneficence from an agent) than can be accounted for in an emotion.
The proper response to a compliment is explicit gratitude, not a cynical, shrugging witticism.
And the guitarist and composer Gyan Riley gave the premiere of his "Stream of Gratitude, in Response to Bach's Suite for Lute in C minor, BWV 997," a virtuosic meditation couched in Bachian figuration wrapped in a harmonically updated (and mildly jazz-tinged) cloak.
Gratitude, however, may not always be called for in response to an exceeded expectation, and sometimes gratitude seems called for when no expectation has been exceeded (see section 2).
For example, it nicely highlights the distinction between gratitude proper (a response to the agency of another person) and appreciation or joy (the objective counterpart to the reactive attitude of gratitude), emphasizing that the former is a response to goodwill (see section 1 above).
Mr. Berle's response to all this was a combination of gratitude and guilt.
