Past Event: Philosophy Dept. Colloquium: Robert Stern (Univ. of Sheffield/Yale)

Title: Løgstrup on Forgiveness: owed but not demanded?

Abstract: In this talk, I am going to argue that forgiveness can be owed to a wrongdoer but not demanded by them, and I will claim that this solves an aporia concerning forgiveness: namely that on the one hand forgiveness is grounded in reasons to forgive which can make forgiveness required, while on the other hand forgiveness remains what K E Løgstrup calls an ‘unforeseen event’ because it cannot be demanded. I will also show how Løgstrup’s ethics makes this combination of a demand without a demander possible. I will first set out the aporia and then show how Logstrup’s approach can resolve it.