2 - Forgiveness at Its Best
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
We should resent more from a sense of the propriety of resentment, from a sense that mankind expect and require it of us, than because we feel in ourselves the furies of that disagreeable passion. There is no passion, of which the human mind is capable, concerning whose justness we ought to be so doubtful, concerning whose indulgence we ought so carefully to consult our natural sense of propriety, or so diligently to consider what will be the sentiments of the cool and impartial spectator. … It must appear, in short, from our whole manner, without our labouring affectedly to express it, that passion has not extinguished our humanity; and that if we yield to the dictates of revenge, it is with reluctance, from necessity, and in consequence of great and repeated provocations. When resentment is guarded and qualified in this manner, it may be admitted to be even generous and noble.
Adam Smith, TMS II.i.5.9In this chapter, I build on the considerations offered so far in order to define forgiveness. Among the topics to be discussed are the relation of forgiveness and self-respect; the conditions that offender and injured would ideally meet; the “moral monster” and the “unforgivable”; why forgiveness is desirable; the role of narrative (the “story” we tell ourselves and each other about forgiving or being forgiven); and the relation of forgiveness to reconciliation. The “paradigmatic” sense of forgiveness frames my discussion in this chapter.
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- ForgivenessA Philosophical Exploration, pp. 38 - 112Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007