Abstract

In this paper, I try to determine the best way to understand forgiveness as a normative power. My suggestion is: to forgive a wrongdoer is to forswear the claim towards them to treat them as responsible for the relevant wrong. In defense of this claim, I contrast it with Susanne Boshammer’s and Christopher Bennett’s conceptions of forgiveness – and argue especially that it explains better how, in forgiving, we grant the wrongdoer a second chance.