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36 J. Value Inquiry 483 (2002)
What Should "Forgiveness" Mean?

handle is hein.journals/jrnlvi36 and id is 483 raw text is: MI The Journal of Value Inquiry 36: 483-498, 2002. 483 © C 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. What Should Forgiveness Mean? PATRICK BOLEYN-FITZGERALD Department of Philosophy, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI 54912, USA e-mail: patrick.a.boleyn-fitzgerald@lawrence.edu Most people find anger more difficult to control than sadness, anxiety, or any other emotion.1 This inability creates unfortunate and sometimes tragic con- sequences. In individuals, uncontrolled anger can end in battery, rape, and murder. In societies, uncontrolled anger can end in international conflict, ethnic cleansing, and war. In at least some contexts, therefore, it is very important that we be able to control our anger. Moral agents who develop virtues such as compassion, gratitude, and patience may have an easier time doing this, but arguably the most important virtue for controlling anger is forgiveness. A forgiving individual is able to let go of anger once it arises. What else forgiveness might mean, however, is a matter of dispute. Con- temporary philosophers argue that forgiveness is only possible when an agent does not forget, when he has been responsibly wronged, and when he has the appropriate motivation. As we will see, however, this understanding of for- giveness can undermine our attempts to defuse problematic anger. We could use this finding to argue that forgiveness is a vice, but it would be more plau- sible for us to accept an alternative understanding of forgiveness. Some Buddhists depict forgiveness as merely letting go of anger. Individuals will do a better job of controlling problematic anger when they employ this un- derstanding of forgiveness than when they employ the contemporary philo- sophical analysis. As a result it is what we should mean by forgiveness. 1. Common Themes Contemporary philosophers argue that we should understand forgiveness more precisely than we commonly use the term. While contemporary philoso- phers disagree about the best analysis of forgiveness, they seem to agree on four important points. Contemporary philosophers argue that we do not for- give if we forget. We cannot forgive innocent or justified acts. We cannot forgive excused acts. We do not forgive unless we have the appropriate moti- vation. Contemporary philosophers argue that forgiveness is separate from, and perhaps incompatible with, forgetting. Paul Hughes states the position clearly,

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