Augustine once wrote that he knew exactly what the word "time" meant until asked to define it. Then, he confessed, he was flummoxed. I suspect that something similar can be said about the word "forgive." Many of us like to think we understand the word, and we generally just assume that the act it designates is unproblematically virtuous. But many of us would have a good deal of trouble trying to express what we mean when we use the word. And if we think deeply about what it means to forgive, we might balk at viewing the act as always good.



Jeffrie Murphy has thought long and hard about what it means to forgive, and his elegant little book is well worth reading. He argues that forgiveness is an inner change of heart that overcomes vindictive passions--such as revenge; that forgiving isn't the same as mercy, pardon, or reconciliation; that healing can be a healing virtue when it checks anger and cruelty and restores relationships; but that forgiveness may not always be virtuous, especially if it dmages self-respect, dignity, and loyalty to the moral order. Some vindictive passions, in other words, may not be self-destructive, pointless, or unfitting to the circumstances. They may be entirely rational, entirely appropriate--and, in fact, ethically obligatory.



Along the way, Murphy has some interesting reflections on (self-)forgiveness and therapy, forgiveness and the law, and forgiveness and Christianity. He writes beautifully, is witty and gently self-deprecating at times, and appeals to a wide array of literature to illustrate his arguments. And speaking of his arguments: they're concise, pointed, and insightful, representative of the very best of the Anglo-analytic philosophical tradition to which Murphy belongs. All in all, a very good book indeed.



For readers interested in Continental approaches to forgiveness, Jacques Derrida's On Cosmpolitanism and Forgiveness and Vladimir Jankelevitch's Forgiveness are good starting points. For readers interested in group forgiveness, as opposed to the interpersonal forgiveness that's Murphy's primary concern, I'd recommend Martha Minow's Between Vengeance and Forgiveness.