Forgiving the Unforgivable: Mortals, Saints and Sinners

Abstract

This article is a personal reflection on the nature of the complexity called forgiveness. The article tries to avoid moralizing by situating the reflection in the social and personal context of the author. Through this route reasons are established as to why it is difficult to be a reflective citizen, and why the author is more prone to being a paralyzed citizen. The individualistic and internalist account of forgiveness is discredited, and it is argued that forgiveness is a property of the network. The article argues for the necessity of ‘recognition’ prior to any possibility of forgiveness, and in this work the bystander is allocated a central role.