Abstract
In current debates about coming to terms with individual and collective wrongdoing, the concept of forgiveness has played an important but controversial role. For a long time, the idea was widespread that a forgiving attitude—overcoming feelings of resentment and the wish for revenge—was always virtuous. Recently, however, this idea has been questioned. In this volume, we neither take sides for nor against forgiveness, but rather examine its meaning and function against the backdrop of a more complex understanding of moral repair in a variety of social, circumstantial, and cultural contexts. On the one hand, the volume aims to gain a differentiated understanding of the European traditions regarding forgiveness, revenge, and moral repair that have shaped our moral intuitions today. On the other, we will examine examples from other cultural contexts (Asia and Africa, in particular) to explore how different cultural traditions deal with the need for moral repair after wrongdoing.
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Notes
- 1.
Derrida, in turn, draws on Jankélévitch’s Le Pardon (1967).
- 2.
- 3.
Hannah Arendt is an exception in that she limited forgiveness to the realm of what can be explained by ordinary human weaknesses, that is, what can ultimately be excused.
- 4.
With regard to the role of emphathy in processes of moral repair and reconciliation cf. Eisikovits (2010).
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Lotter, MS. (2022). Introduction: Forgiveness and Other Elements of Moral Repair. In: Lotter, MS., Fischer, S. (eds) Guilt, Forgiveness, and Moral Repair. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84610-7_1
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