{"id":8911,"date":"2013-03-19T14:28:01","date_gmt":"2013-03-19T14:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2013\/03\/19\/can-one-forgive-oneself\/"},"modified":"2013-03-19T14:28:01","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T14:28:01","slug":"can-one-forgive-oneself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2013\/03\/19\/can-one-forgive-oneself\/","title":{"rendered":"Can One Forgive Oneself? An Aporetic Triad"},"content":{"rendered":"

I pointed out earlier that forgiving is triadic: x forgives y for z.  There is the forgiver, the one to whom forgiveness is proffered, and that which is forgiven.   Nominative, dative, accusative.   It is of course correct English to say 'I forgive you,' but this fact about usage cuts no ice since 'I forgive you'  is elliptical for 'I forgive you for what you did or what you failed to do.'  'I forgive you' is not evidence that forgiving is in some cases dyadic any more than 'Tom is married' is evidence that marriage is monadic. Forgiving is then at least triadic: it is a three-place<\/em> relation.  'X forgives y for z' has three argument-places.  But it doesn't follow that forgiving is in every case a three-term<\/em> or three-relata relation.    For if one one can forgive oneself, then  x and y are the same person.  Compare identity, which is a two-place<\/em>, but one-term<\/em> relation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why did I write "at least triadic"?  Because we need to think about such examples as 'I forgive you both for conspiring against me.'   That appears<\/em> to involve three persons and one action.  I set this issue aside for later discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the moment, the following aporetic triad is at the cynosure of my interest:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. There are cases of self-forgiveness and they are instances of genuine forgiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. If a person forgives himself at time t for doing or failing to do z , then he cannot help but be aware of and admit his own guilt at t for doing or failing to do z.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Genuine forgiveness is unconditional: it is consistent with a non-admission of guilt on the part of the one who is forgiven.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each limb of the triad is plausible.  But the limbs cannot all be true: the conjunction of ( 1) and (2) entails the negation of (3).  Indeed, the conjunction of any two limbs entails the negation of the remaining limb.<\/span><\/p>\n

To solve the problem, we must reject one of the limbs.  <\/span><\/p>\n

(1)-Rejection.  One might maintain that cases of self-forgiveness are not instances of genuine forgiveness.  One might hold that 'forgiveness' in 'self-forgiveness' and 'other-forgiveness'  is being used in different ways, and that the difference between the two phenomena is papered over by the sameness of word.<\/span><\/p>\n

(2)-Rejection.  I would say that (2) is self-evident and cannot be reasonably rejected.<\/span><\/p>\n

(3)-Rejection.  One might maintain that genuine forgiveness need not be unconditional, that there are cases when it depends on the satisfaction of the condition that the one forgiven admit his guilt.<\/span><\/p>\n

I would solve the problem by rejecting both<\/em> (1) and (3).  As I see it at the moment, genuine forgiveness is an interpersonal transaction: it involves at least two distinct persons.  Self-forgiveness, however, remains intra<\/em>-personal. What is called self-forgiveness is therefore a distinct, albeit related, phenomenon.  It is not genuine forgiveness the paradigm case of which is one person forgiving another for an action or omission that is in some sense wrong, that injures the first person,  and that the second person admits is wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also maintain that forgveness cannot be unconditional. For forgiveness to transpire as between A and B, B must accept the forgiveness that A offers.  But B cannot do this unless he admits that he has done something (or left something undone) that is morally or legally or in some other way (e.g., etiquette-wise) censurable.  Thus B must admit  guilt.  That is a condition that must be met if forgiveness is to occur.<\/span><\/p>\n

One who accepts both (1) and (3) will, via (2), land himself in a contradiction.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>The Putative Paradox of Forgiveness<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>An Analysis of the Concept of Forgiveness<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I pointed out earlier that forgiving is triadic: x forgives y for z.  There is the forgiver, the one to whom forgiveness is proffered, and that which is forgiven.   Nominative, dative, accusative.   It is of course correct English to say 'I forgive you,' but this fact about usage cuts no ice since 'I forgive you'  is elliptical for … Continue reading “Can One Forgive Oneself? An Aporetic Triad”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[159,60,512],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotions","category-ethics","category-forgiveness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}