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Articles

How Not To Forgive

Wendell O’Brien is unforgiving about forgiveness.

I’m not going to argue for forgiveness over resentment and revenge here. I’ll just assume that forgiveness is better, and go from there.

Suppose I want to respond in the true spirit of forgiveness – whatever exactly it is – to someone I judge to have wronged me. There are, I believe, a couple of stances I cannot take, although they are commonly taken by those who think of themselves as forgiving people.

I once heard the first of these stances described and endorsed by a man at a philosophical meeting.

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