FORGIVING THE DEAD

IF 0.3 4区 哲学 Q4 ETHICS Social Philosophy & Policy Pub Date : 2019-01-01 DOI:10.1017/S0265052519000281
Macalester Bell
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract: Resentment and other hard feelings may outlive their targets, and people often express a desire to overcome these feelings through forgiveness. While some see forgiving the dead as an important moral accomplishment, others deny that genuine forgiveness of the dead is coherent, let alone desirable or valuable. According to one line of thought, forgiveness is something we do for certain reasons, such as the offender’s expressed contrition. Given that the dead cannot express remorse, forgiveness of the dead is impossible. Others see the apparent coherence and moral importance of forgiving the dead as a reason to give up on the idea that forgiveness is conditional upon the offender’s remorse. According to these philosophers, forgiveness of the dead poses no special problems; forgiveness of the dead, like forgiveness of the living, is not contingent upon the offender’s contrition. I steer a path between these two positions in such a way as to bring out an important aspect of forgiveness that is not adequately addressed in the literature: I argue that forgiving the dead may be perfectly coherent and morally valuable even though the dead cannot ask for forgiveness or engage in reparative activities. A full appreciation of the relational character of forgiveness allows us to make sense of forgiving the dead.
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宽恕死者
摘要:怨恨和其他痛苦的感觉可能比它们的目标存在得更久,人们经常表达通过宽恕来克服这些感觉的愿望。虽然有些人认为宽恕死者是一项重要的道德成就,但其他人否认真正的宽恕死者是连贯的,更不用说可取或有价值了。根据一种思路,宽恕是我们出于某些原因而做的事情,比如冒犯者表达了忏悔。鉴于死者无法表达悔恨,宽恕死者是不可能的。另一些人则认为,宽恕死者的明显连贯性和道德重要性,是放弃宽恕以冒犯者的悔恨为条件这一观点的理由。根据这些哲学家的观点,对死者的宽恕并没有什么特别的问题;对死者的宽恕,就像对生者的宽恕一样,并不取决于犯罪者的悔悟。我以这样一种方式在这两种立场之间走一条路,以揭示宽恕的一个重要方面,这在文献中没有得到充分的解决:我认为,宽恕死者可能是完全连贯的,在道德上是有价值的,即使死者不能请求宽恕或参与修复活动。对宽恕的关系特性的充分理解使我们理解宽恕死者的意义。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.60
自引率
0.00%
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0
期刊介绍: Social Philosophy and Policy is an interdisciplinary journal with an emphasis on the philosophical underpinnings of enduring social policy debates. The issues are thematic in format, examining a specific area of concern with contributions from scholars in different disciplines, especially philosophy, economics, political science and law. While not primarily a journal of policy prescriptions, some articles in each issue will typically connect theory with practice. The 2006 issues are "Justice and Global Politics" and "Taxation, Economic Prosperity, and Distributive Justice". The 2007 issues will be "Liberalism: Old and New" and "Ancient Greek Political Theory".
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