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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Justification and forgiveness are distinct moral concepts... — Carmelics
    Home/Forgiveness & Mercy
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Justification and forgiveness are distinct moral concepts and ought to be distinguished.

    Forgiveness & Mercy
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.When conduct is justified, this implies that the conduct was not morally wrong.
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    • 2.When conduct is forgiven, there is no implication that the conduct was not morally wrong; indeed, in most cases what we are forgiven for are the morally wrong things we do.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.On some virtue-ethics accounts (e.g., Aristotle's equity), showing mercy just is the correct moral response when strict rules produce unjust outcomes.
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    • 2.If merciful forbearance constitutes the morally appropriate act in context, then the forgiver is not waiving a legitimate moral claim but acting justifiably.
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    • 3.When an act is the morally correct response to a situation, the distinction between justification and forgiveness collapses into a single moral judgment.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Charles Griswold and Margaret Walker both argue that genuine forgiveness requires a revised moral appraisal of the wrongdoer's character, not merely the act.
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    • 2.If forgiveness entails revising one's moral assessment of the agent (e.g., seeing them as no longer blameworthy), then forgiveness partially vindicates the person, overlapping with justification's exculpatory function.
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    • 3.Concepts that share the same normative upshot—removing or diminishing blameworthiness—cannot be cleanly distinguished as categorically distinct moral operations.
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    Topics

    Forgiveness & Mercy

    Related

    Charles Griswold and Margaret Walker both argue that genuine forgiveness require...Concepts that share the same normative upshot—removing or diminishing blameworth...If forgiveness entails revising one's moral assessment of the agent (e.g., seein...If merciful forbearance constitutes the morally appropriate act in context, then...
    +4 moreShow less
    On some virtue-ethics accounts (e.g., Aristotle's equity), showing mercy just is...When an act is the morally correct response to a situation, the distinction betw...When conduct is forgiven, there is no implication that the conduct was not moral...When conduct is justified, this implies that the conduct was not morally wrong.

    Similar

    Self-forgiveness is morally appropriate when a wrongdoer's guilt, sham...88%Not all acts of forgiveness have positive moral status; conditions on ...87%Self-forgiveness serves the purpose of restoring wrongdoers to full mo...86%Whether forgiveness is compatible with self-respect does not depend on...86%

    Source

    AI-extracted2/3 agreementValid
    SEP: forgiveness
    View source passageHide passage
    Sometimes we do things that appear to be morally wrong. Suppose I see you, a total stranger, take a pear from a fruit stand and walk off with it. I reproach you for having stolen the pear into which you are now happily chomping. Yet you explain that you own that fruit stand and have not stolen anything. In giving this kind of explanation, you are offering a justification for your action—you are claiming that despite appearances to the contrary, your taking the pear was morally permissible. Offering justifications is commonplace in our moral lives. But justification and forgiveness ought to be ...
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The premises accurately capture the passage's reasoning that justification implies no moral wrong was done while forgiveness presupposes a moral wrong, which directly supports the conclusion that the two concepts are distinct and should be distinguished.

    Confidence: Clearly argued distinction with explicit premises.

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit