Thoughts? What is forgiveness, and how does it relate to justice? What is mercy, and how does it relate to justice? What is vengeance, and how does it relate to forgiveness? How do forgiveness and mercy relate to each other? Forgiveness is a response to anger when anger is our response to perceived wrongdoing. We forgive when we let go of our anger. But, we can let go of our anger and still seek justice, because justice is not about the reactive attitudes we have toward wrongdoing, but about the wrongdoing itself. In other words, we do not seek justice because we feel anger, but rather because there is a wrong that (we feel) needs to be made right, a wound that needs to be redressed. Forgiveness, then, is compatible with seeking justice. Vengeance is also a response to anger when anger is our response to perceived wrongdoing. We seek vengeance when we act on our anger. In other words, we seek vengeance because we feel anger; it is a question of motivation. We may rationalise our vengeful actions by appeal to justice, but it is not the sense of righting a wrong that drives cases of vengeance; it is anger and the desire to satisfy that feeling, to soothe it, to quench it. Thus, vengeance is incompatible with forgiveness. Justice is a response to wrongdoing. In its most classical form, justice is retribution for a wrong committed. Justice demands that a wrong be made right. Righting a wrong involves some type of “payment” for the wrong, typically some form of punishment, whether a fine (property) or imprisonment (liberty) or even death (life). The key is that whatever punishment is sought and exacted, it should be proportional to the wrong. Mercy is also a response to wrongdoing itself, in which we choose not to seek punishment for the wrong done to us. We acknowledge the wrong as wrong, but we let go of the desire to seek punishment for it. We choose not to demand the payment demanded by justice. This makes mercy a competitor with justice: we cannot have both justice and mercy. We must choose between the two. Mercy, then, is incompatible with seeking justice. How then do we articulate the relationship between forgiveness and mercy? If we forgive, and thus let go of our anger for a wrong committed, will we be more inclined to offer mercy than to seek justice? Are we truly merciful if we do not also let go of our anger? Can we be merciful without first being forgiving? Are we truly forgiving if we do not also show mercy?
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:28:59 +0000
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