What’s the point of blame? When is it right to forgive?
Sep 27, 2023
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Miranda Fricker, Julius Silver Professor of Philosophy at NYU, explores the nuanced landscapes of blame and forgiveness. She discusses how cultural events like Yom Kippur shape our moral perspectives and the collective nature of repentance. Delving into various religious practices, she highlights the need for humility and recognition of faults. The conversation also touches on the challenges of communication surrounding forgiveness, especially in the context of historical injustices and collective guilt, advocating for accountability and compassion.
Yom Kippur emphasizes communal atonement through collective acknowledgment of wrongdoing, fostering humility and ownership of one’s actions.
The contrasting approaches to forgiveness in Judaism and Christianity highlight different relational dynamics regarding personal and collective repentance.
Discussions on blame and guilt reveal that true remorse fosters understanding and compassion, enhancing interpersonal and collective moral relationships.
Deep dives
The Significance of Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur serves as Judaism's annual day of atonement, focusing on communal and individual acts of repentance. This day culminates the 10 days of reflection that begin with Rosh Hashanah, urging worshippers to confess a broad array of wrongdoings without needing to specify each one. The significance lies in the practice of acknowledging all faults, where individuals collectively approach God with the intent of seeking forgiveness, embodying humility and complete ownership of their actions. This ritual highlights the physical act of self-abasement, marked by the tradition of beating one's chest and expressing vulnerability before God.
Contrasting Traditions of Atonement
The conversation delves into comparisons between the practices within Judaism and Christianity regarding atonement and repentance. Unlike Judaism's emphasis on personal confession and direct God-to-person interactions, Christianity often involves a sacrificial model of atonement through the crucifixion of Christ, complicating the dynamics of forgiveness. In Christian contexts, there is also a practice of enumeration in confessions, contrasting sharply with the aggregate nature of Jewish confessions. This contrast leads to discussions on whether the absence of specific acknowledgment in Jewish rituals inadequately addresses the horizontal relationships between moral agents.
The Role of Guilt and Remorse
The conversation emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between guilt and remorse, suggesting that true remorse involves a deep understanding of the pain inflicted on others. It is suggested that blame should not merely be an act of expelling guilt but rather a pathway to shared understanding and moral recognition between individuals. This nuanced approach posits that guilt can either lead to personal liberation or become a superficial response that does not engage with the deeper, relational aspects of moral wrongdoing. The dialogue illustrates how the recognition of one’s flaws can foster compassion for the flaws of others, ultimately enriching interpersonal relationships.
The Challenges of Collective Blame
The discussion points out the complexities of applying concepts of individual blame and forgiveness to collective contexts such as national or cultural identities. Struggles arise when individuals feel blame or shame for historical injustices they did not commit, creating a cycle of resentment or defensive reactions. This dynamic complicates the notion of collective repentance and the search for communal understanding rooted in genuine remorse for past actions. As large groups engage in dialogue regarding historical wrongs, the communication tends to become abstract, weakening the personal connection necessary for effective moral reconciliation.
Exploring the Concept of National Penitence
The idea of establishing national days of penitence is proposed as a means to foster collective awareness and acknowledgment of historical transgressions. This concept emphasizes that such actions should not evoke groveling but rather promote communal healing and recognition of flaws in societal behavior. However, the challenge lies in the nature of collective identity, where the absence of individual culpability can lead to backlash and superficial negotiations of guilt. This notion raises questions about the effectiveness of national sentiments of shame or remorse and whether they can genuinely translate into improved horizontal relationships within society.
Blame and forgiveness are two of the most natural responses to wrongdoing — and yet, increasingly, these responses are viewed with a degree of suspicion, if not outright hostility, due to the myriad ways they can go wrong.
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