Apologia
Etymology
From Greek "apologia," "a speech in defense," from "apo," "from" or "away," and "logos," "speech." Plato’s account of Socrates on trial is the "Apology" in exactly this sense — a defense, not a saying-sorry. English kept the older form apologia to preserve that meaning, since the everyday word "apology" had drifted toward contrition.
noun · /ap-uh-LOH-jee-uh/
A formal written defense of one’s beliefs, actions, or work.
What it names
A defense that is not an apology — the reasoned account someone gives to justify a life, a decision, or a body of work rather than to express regret for it.
Example
The retiring editor’s final column read as an apologia for a career’s worth of unpopular choices.
Related idea
An apologia defends; a polemic attacks, though a skilled writer often folds one into the other, defending a position by assailing its rivals.