Essay
‘To err is human, to forgive, divine’ is a famous quote by Alexander Pope regarding
forgiveness. Indeed it is human to blunder, but what would forgiveness look like? How
do we forgive when we are wronged? What does forgiveness require? Does
forgiveness necessitate a condition being fulfilled? This gives rise to the question of
whether forgiveness can be unconditional. Does forgiveness entail the offender to
repent? In this essay, I argue forgiveness cannot be unconditional and does require
some condition to be met by the offender.
Forgiveness cannot be unconditional as it is impossible. We live in a society in which
every individual is entitled to their rights and where equity is highly valued and
maintained through the judicial and law enforcement system (UNICEF, 2015). This
fundamentally deontological moral framework focuses on actions themselves as either
good or bad and the moral duties to be upheld. A democratic societal structure as such
discourages unconditional forgiveness when injurious behaviour incurs. Conditional
forgiveness requires the sacrifice of rights on the account of the victim granted the
offender meets specific criteria set by the victim (if someone has stolen my car, I would
expect reparation for my car before I could forgive). In the case of unconditional
forgiveness, however, all the debts are absolved by the victim regardless of the
behaviour of the offender (I would forgive the carjacker regardless of their behaviour
and whether I get the car back or not) (Prieto-Ursua, 2018). For example, if my friend
breaks the lamp in my room, there are three things which can occur. Either I get them
to pay for a new one or I forgive them and either absolve the costs for a new lamp or
do without lighting in my room (Keller, 2004). If unconditional forgiveness was to occur
in this situation, I would absolve the costs of the lamp (without any debt falling onto
my friend) regardless of their actions after the incident. In other words, I would
voluntarily suffer and the offender is not chastened. This sort of forgiveness is too
idealistic. In fact, it is humanly impossible. Humans may be able to forgive forget, in
the sense they disregard or disown the act, sayin g “Let us regard this as not having
happened” (Swinburne, 1989). For the majority, forgiveness is a means of moving on
from past wrongs after atonement. When we are wronged, our default is to seek justice
through legislation or through our own means. Unconditional forgiveness is just too far
out of reach for our society.
Forgiveness cannot be unconditional because it is. When we forgive unconditionally,
(assuming it is possible,) we forgive regardless of the offender’s behaviour and
whether they got punished or not. This form forgiveness does two things; it encourages
the offender to repeat the offence and does not preserve the self-respect of the victim
(Goard, 2015). Imagine a child is observed by their teacher using a toy to hit their
fellow peer. If the teacher forgives only after the child has been (conditional
forgiveness), the child would be less likely to hit their fellow peer again. However, if
the teacher unconditionally forgives, and does not reprimand the child, the child (not
knowing the morally good thing to do) is then encouraged and essentially allowed to
repeat the offence. This example displays how unconditional forgiveness fails to
prevent condonation of the wrong. In addition, take a case of domestic abuse as an
example; the woman is getting physically abused by her male counterpart. Here, if
unconditional forgiveness is applied, the woman unconditionally forgives the man for
every account of physical abuse (assuming this is possible), not only does it
encourage more morally wrong behaviour, but it also fails to protect the self-respect
of the victim, in this case the woman. Unconditional forgiveness, even if possible, is
unviable for use pragmatically.
However, it could be argued that conditional forgiveness is not a true act of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is more than just an ordinary moral action which conditions make it out to
be. It is supererogatory in every way. Just as making a gift and asking for something
in return is not an authentic gift so forgiveness itself must go beyond the limits of
economy and retribution (Derrida, 2001). Authentic forgiveness does not contain a
condition or purpose, because it is not done to achieve a goal. Authentic forgiveness
should be beyond any condition, goal and purpose. For example, Corrie Ten Boom, a
victim of the Holocaust, forgave her former guard at her concentration camp; “I forgive
you, brother! … With all my heart!” (Ten Boom, 1972). How could she have forgiven
him of an unforgiveable crime against humanity? However, this is exactly the nature
of forgiveness. It forgives the unforgiveable. Derrida further emphasises the necessity
of unconditional forgiveness; “Forgiveness is not, it should not be, normal, normative,
normalising. It should remain exceptional and extraordinary, in the face of the
impossible: as if it interrupted the ordinary course of historical temporality” (Derrida,
2001). Notwithstanding, it brings us back to the point in which unconditional
forgiveness is too idealistic. Although the concept of unconditional forgiveness is good,
humans would not be able to execute it. What is the point of forgiveness if it cannot be
performed in real life? It seems that forgiveness must be inherently conditional as
otherwise it would not have relevance in society.
In conclusion, forgiveness cannot be unconditional and in all circumstances requires
a condition to be fulfilled. Even though forgiveness is a supererogatory action and
should be beyond any condition, goal or purpose, it would not be viable when
practically exercised. Unconditional forgiveness is just too good to be true.
References
Garrard, E. (n.d.). In Defence of Unconditional Forgiveness. In Defence of
Unconditional Forgiveness.
I found this source by using the search terms “unconditional forgiveness” to find
examples to support my points. It was helpful as I found a lot of examples to use in my
essay and also found point I could include as well. However, it was quite dense and
extremely complicated language which made it hard to extract information out of it.
Ten Boom, C. (1972). Corrie Ten Boom Story on Forgiving. Retrieved 14
September 2022, from
[Link]
I found this source in OneNote as I looked through the unit on justice and forgiveness
for real-life examples I could include in my essay. It was helpful as it provided me with
an example of unconditional forgiveness. This helped to support my argument.
However, the source was not entirely trustworthy as it did not look legitimate.
What are human rights? (2015). UNICEF. Retrieved 12 September 2022, from
[Link]
I found this source by using the search terms “human rights” to find factual information
to support my points. It was helpful as I found the information I was looking for to
include in my essay and it also supported my points well. However, it was quite brief
and short which made it hard to extract information out of it.
Reference List
C.S. Lewis Institute. (2022, July 1). Reflections: THE NECESSITY OF
FORGIVENESS. Retrieved 25 August 2022, from
[Link]
Definition of forgive. (n.d.). In [Link]. Retrieved 10 September
2022, from [Link]
Garrard, E. (n.d.). In Defence of Unconditional Forgiveness. In Defence of
Unconditional Forgiveness.
Goard, K. (2015). Unconditional Forgiveness. UKnowledge.
[Link]
ds
Ivic, S. (2018). Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of forgiveness. Filosofia
Unisinos.
Prieto-Ursua, M. (2018). Conditional or Unconditional Forgiveness? An
Instrument to Measure the Conditionality of Forgiveness. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved
14 September 2022, from
[Link]
=hjpr20#:%7E:text=The%20concept%20of%20conditional%20forgiveness,the%20be
havior%20of%20the%20wrongdoer.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2017, May 31). Forgiveness (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Retrieved 21 August 2022, from
[Link]
Ten Boom, C. (1972). Corrie Ten Boom Story on Forgiving. Retrieved 14
September 2022, from
[Link]
What are human rights? (2015). UNICEF. Retrieved 12 September 2022, from
[Link]
