Forgiveness and Meaning in Life

Abstract

AbstractThe central aim of this chapter is to present the crucial role that forgiveness plays in one of the values most widely agreed on as central to meaning in life: relationships. The author argues that forgiveness is indispensable for relationships between flawed agents (all humans), and in particular that unconditional or gifted forgiveness can help individuals avoid the pitfalls of despair and leniency, both of which undermine growth. In addition, the author argues that through P. F. Strawson’s notion of the participant view, central to much writing on forgiveness, forgiveness provides a point of intersection between philosophical discussion of meaning in life and the meaning of life. Strawson’s participant view is an outlook from which individuals’ lives and relationships simply are recognized as meaningful, and which is not undermined by the idea that these same values do not show up in the objective view.