The political meaning of forgiveness and reconciliation revisited: an Arendtian approach.

This project departs from the hypothesis that the difficulties and doubts all accounts on the political meaning of forgiveness and reconciliation get entangled in, go back to a moral interpretation of both terms, which neglects the crucial distinction betweenmoral and political relationships. The central aim of the project is thus to develop a sheer political account on forgiveness and reconciliation, inspired by Hannah Arendt's conception of politics and her distinction between politics and morality. As is demonstrated by many critiques on Arendt's account, this explicit distinction between politics and morality is highly controversial. I intend to show however, that respecting the distinction may avoid many conceptual confusions and practical difficulties.

Keywords:POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, RECONCILIATION

Disciplines:Theory and methodology of philosophy, Philosophy, Other philosophy, ethics and religious studies not elsewhere classified