Events

23 April 2010

Forgiveness and Grace

Seminar

It is commonly assumed in the philosophical literature on forgiveness that wrongdoers must take various steps toward correcting the wrong they have done before it is acceptable to forgive them. Charles Griswold, for example, identifies six ‘necessary conditions’ that a wrongdoer must satisfy if she is to ‘qualify for forgiveness.’ If she meets these conditions, then ‘forgiveness is commendable because it is what the offender is due.’ But if she does not, he suggests, she should not be forgiven (except under special circumstances), for she is ‘undeserving of the honour.’ My aim is to challenge the widespread assumption that forgiveness must be deserved. I shall argue that the tendency to link forgiveness to conditions of desert ends up excluding an important dimension of forgiveness, viz, its connection with grace.

Organisation:

Department of Philosophy, University of Auckland.