Thank you for your response to my question about some offenses being so awful that no one should forgive the perpetrators. You said this is not true because some people do forgive those who commit horrible crimes. My follow-up question is this: Might those who forgive under such awful circumstances be committing a philosophical mistake? In other words, they should not be forgiving, but don’t know any better?
What would be the basis for you concluding that they are wrong? For example, if a person forgives the murderer of her child and sees the murderer as a person, someone who does possess worth despite the atrocity, is this an error of judgement? Isn’t it true that the perpetrator still is unique in all the world and therefore is special and irreplaceable? Even if that is difficult for some people to see, it is the case that others do see this, as did Marietta Jaeger, who forgave the murderer of her daughter, Suzy. Marietta was rational, compassionate, and not distorting reality. In other words, her forgiving seems quite genuine and not at all a philosophical error.
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