On the Rationality of Forgiveness

• Applicant: Dr. Claudia Blöser
• Subject Area: Practical Philosophy
• Term: Funded in 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 341243368

What reasons do we have to forgive a person for her wrongdoing? My research project deals with two possible answers to this question, each of which is discussed in the philosophical literature on forgiveness. The first possible answer to the question of why I might forgive someone is that I myself am (or have been, or will be) in need of forgiveness; the second is that I hope that the wrongdoer will behave more appropriately in the future. The first answer is based on Kant s idea that all human beings shoulder guilt and are therefore in need of forgiveness. Human fallibility as a reason to forgive is also discussed in the contemporary debate on forgiveness. In the first part of my project, I will offer a novel interpretation of Kant s position on forgiveness. As I will argue, this interpretation is a systematically promising contribution to the contemporary debate. More specifically, it aims to explain the role of moral luck in forgiveness, i.e. the idea that it is (partly) a matter of chance that one is not in the place of the wrongdoer. A further important aspect of my interpretation concerns the thesis that we all have a need for forgiveness, the nature of which I will elucidate.In the second part of the project, I will investigate the role played by hope for a better future in forgiveness. First, I will consider whether hope can be understood as a necessary condition for forgiveness: Is forgiveness only rationally possible if the forgiving person hopes that the wrongdoer s behaviour will improve in the future? Second, I will discuss the thesis that this hope concerns an effect of our forgiveness rather than anything prior to it: We hope that the wrongdoer will improve as a response to the act of forgiving. A central question in this part of my project is the extent to which the conditions of rationality for hope coincide with those for forgiveness.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professorin Dr. Dana Nelkin