54 research outputs found
Healing Multiculturalism: Middle-Ground Liberal Forgiveness in a Diverse Public Realm
This article examines debates about political forgiveness in liberal, pluralist societies. Although the concept of forgiveness is not usually taken up by liberals, I outline a plausible conception by exploring two recent approaches. The first, âunattached articulationâ, concept requires no real emotional change on the forgiverâs part, but rather a form of civic restraint. In contrast, the second version highlights a strong form of empathy for perpetrators. In spite of their advantages, each concept proves too extreme. The problems are revealed by focusing on the case of the Harkis, who fought for the French during the Algerian war. Often still marginalised in French society, their case helps to highlight the conceivability of a âmiddle-groundâ or moderate concept of political forgiveness. Its core rests on the forgiverâs care for the social world. While this concept brings considerable challenges also, and is not inevitable in any particular case, it entails a more plausible combination of emotional and rational shifts in the forgiverâs world-view. Although the article does not recommend forgiveness by any person or group, it observes, recalling Arendtâs idea of amor mundi or âlove of the worldâ, that political forgiveness may sustain a viable connection between diverse citizensâ public and non-public lives
Settler state apologies and the elusiveness of forgiveness : The purification ritual that does not purify
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