The Virtue of Forgiveness

Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-0-19-775243-2
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 210 mm

Forgiveness is at one and the same time a very ordinary and quite challenging moral phenomenon. It is expected of children as a part of their moral development and of our moral exemplars. At the same time, we debate whether we could or even should forgive in certain circumstances. It is deeply personal, but also important to attempt to affect social and political healing.

The Virtue of Forgiveness brings a diverse set of concerns to bear on forgiveness and forgiveness seeking. The chapters include insights from neuroscience, speech act theory, psychological research on both victims and perpetrators, social science, legal anthropology, holistic measures of health, interdisciplinary approaches to theology, the study of forgiveness tropes in literature, the philosophy of human action, and the study of value. Comprehensive reviews and conceptual arguments are complemented by case studies and data-driven hypothesis testing. The volume provides a singularly rich interdisciplinary conversation about forgiveness that covers traditional topics in the moral psychology of forgiveness while exploring new territory and incorporating new disciplinary voices.

As these essays illustrate, forgiveness is vitally important to our mental and physical health, to our agency, and to the social structures that promote reconciliation in the face of conflict at different social scales. It is an especially apt subject for multi-disciplinary engagement, and this collection provides a representative sample of projects in the existing dialogue between psychology and philosophy while broadening the disciplines represented to include neuroscience, anthropology, social science, literature, and theology.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Green, Adam

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction

- Part 1 What Happens When We Forgive?

- 1. What Happens When One Person Forgives Another

- Brandon Warmke

- 2. The Neuroscience of Forgiveness: Genetics, Cardiac Regulation, and Neurological Correlates

- Lindsey Root Luna and Charlotte V. O. Witzliet

- Part 2 Remorse and Forgiveness Seeking

- 3. Apology and Atonement: Psychological Research on Forgiveness Seeking

- Blake Riek

- 4. Remorse, Regret, and Forgiveness

- Anthony Bash

- Part 3 Forgiveness, Character, and Human Agency

- 5. Forgiveness, Blame, and the Ability to Do Otherwise

- Ishtiyaque Haji

- 6. Hope, Humility, and Forgiveness

- Adam Green

- Part 4 Forgiveness In Different Cultural Contexts

- 7. Forgiveness Amongst Victims in Northern Ireland

- John Brewer and Bernadette Hayes

- 8. Working to Cultivate Forgiveness: Social Practices, Religious Mores, and Law in Action

- Arzoo Osanloo

- 9. Forgiveness Theory and Research in Brazil

- Julio Rique and Cleonice Camino

- Part 5 The Value of Forgiveness

- 10. Forgiveness, Recognition, and Poetics in Shakespearean Drama

- Matthew Smith

- 11. Forgiveness and Flourishing

- Loren Toussaint, Sebastian Skalski-Bednarz, and Janusz Surzykiewicz

- 12. What Good is Forgiveness

- Eleonore Stump

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Adam Green is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oklahoma. He works in virtue theory, social epistemology, and the philosophy of religion, and he has published over thirty articles in such venues as the Journal of Philosophy, American Philosophical Quarterly, and Episteme. He wrote The Social Contexts of Intellectual Virtue and co-edited the book Hidden Divinity and Religious Belief with Eleonore Stump.