宽恕-讨论继续....
Guest Contributor

03 May 2005

posted by Charles Griswold

Many thanks to all of you who called during Tuesday's Philosophy Talk (May 3). We very much appreciated your interest! There are a number of fascinating issues we touched upon, and some we did not. Among the latter is the relationship between interpersonal forgiveness and political forgiveness. For an example, see the front page story in the NYT (April 18, 2005) about a traditional forgiveness "ritual" currently being practiced in Uganda. It is explicitly meant as an alternative to the more familiar procedures of criminal justice (proposed actions by the International Criminal Court are mentioned in the article). The offenders go through a ritual that includes dipping their right toe in a raw egg (the symbol of innocent life, we're informed) and paying some sort of reparation. After several such steps, they are accepted back into the community, in spite of horrific injuries they may have inflicted. So this comes to something like pardon. One of their victims expresses deep disagreement with this process, indicating that she's not forgiven her attackers at all--first they need to be punished. Question: is this ritual of reconciliation really about _forgiveness_ at all, or about something else? Do forgiveness and justice clash? Necessarily clash?

John Perry's "To Blog is to Forgive?" is helpful in formulating an answer to these questions.

Comments(4)


Guest's picture

Guest

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 -- 5:00 PM

宽恕和正义会冲突吗?Necessarily clas

宽恕和正义会冲突吗?一定的冲突?
I believe part of the reason why forgiveness and justice sometimes seem to clash is that many people see bad acts as indications of bad people. Bad acts can be forgiven, bad people can only be reformed (or locked away forever, or otherwise disposed of).
I have heard and read stories about the families of people convicted of horrific crimes begging the courts for mercy. They are able to see the convicted person as a person, and to separate his actions from his worth as a person. To many, however, these convicts become "criminals", "monsters" and so on. There can be no forgiveness.
Thus, forgiveness appears to clash with justice because by its nature, nobody can "deserve" forgiveness. It is intimately tied up in many minds with the idea of "mercy", which falls like a gentle rain - blessing indiscriminately those who it touches. If justice, as Socrates said, is getting what you deserve, then mercy is the very opposite of justice. Presidents forgive. Victims forgive. Judges and juries cannot forgive.

Guest's picture

Guest

Thursday, May 5, 2005 -- 5:00 PM

I forgive people based on their Will and intellige

I forgive people based on their Will and intelligence, and the expected reasonable actions of person based on age. Of course there are certain acts when committed will not receive my forgiveness no matter what-I will have to leave their forgiveness to God. In order for a person to receive forgiveness I require that the person in question alleviate the wrong they have committed, give the person what they have taken back to the original owner. If this action is not performed or cannot be performed then the person will not receive forgiveness. There is a tally system on which my system of forgiveness is based. Some individuals wish to exploit another person?s willingness to forgive them. These exploiters should be found and friendships with them should immediately end.
I have heard that the majority of evil in the world is caused through ignorance-the person in question does not know any better. I believe this is indeed part of the cause, but I also believe that it is caused through the individual person?s Will. A person?s Will determines their intelligence and love of knowledge, which in turn will determine their actions. It is indeed the Will which determines a person?s actions. The ability to read another person?s Will and take the necessary steps in a relationship is an important talent.
为什么一个人要原谅另一个人?当一个人原谅另一个人时,他们也同样原谅了自己。当宽恕他人时,宽恕者的内在精神原则正在被改造。当一个人原谅别人的时候,他们也会更容易原谅自己过去和现在类似的行为。一个人应该更关心如何改造自己,而不是改造别人。
宽恕是基于对关系中美好未来的希望。赫西奥德在他的《工作与日子》一书中宣称,希望是一个无用的想法。如果被原谅的人没有在一段关系中寻求或创造一个更好的未来,那么他们不应该再被原谅,这段关系应该结束。宽恕者必须不断地检查被宽恕者的行为。最重要的是,宽恕者应该对自己的行为比被宽恕者更严厉;但必须不断保护自己不被利用。

Guest's picture

Guest

Sunday, April 1, 2007 -- 5:00 PM

It took 11 years of misdiagnosis, shoddy medical e

经过11年的误诊、粗制滥做的医疗检查、糟糕的医疗护理、错误的处方和彻底的医疗滥用,才得到了对三种慢性疾病的全面而彻底的诊断。有人可能会说,医生们也不了解情况,但了解情况是他们的职责。我应该原谅他们吗?是的。就像我原谅一条爬进我睡袋的响尾蛇一样!对一个诚实的错误的原谅可能只需要一个道歉,但要求人们原谅一个让他们经历了危及生命的虐待的人是一堆恶毒的、自我感觉良好的、矫情的空话。如果哲学不仅仅是用大词表达的数独,那么它必须帮助人们过上更好的生活。太多的宽恕会让人的生命处于危险之中。要我说,接近所有响尾蛇都要极其小心,还要拿着大棒。

Guest's picture

Guest

Saturday, December 20, 2008 -- 4:00 PM

你准备好原谅乔治·布什了吗?www.forgive

你准备好原谅乔治·布什了吗?
www.forgivegeorge.com
及时和具有挑战性的新网站关于宽恕…
:-)
P.S. Love the show...