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Forgiveness, the Moral Law and Education: A Reply to Patricia White
Author(s) -
Barnes L. Philip
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9752.00293
Subject(s) - forgiveness , repentance , criticism , construct (python library) , white (mutation) , moral development , psychology , epistemology , moral psychology , sociology , social psychology , law , philosophy , theology , political science , gene , programming language , biochemistry , chemistry , computer science
Patricia White has recently attempted to construct an ethically valid notion of forgiveness that will serve educational purposes and contribute to the moral development of pupils in schools. She distinguishes between a strict view that requires repentance before forgiveness, which she rejects, and a relaxed view that does not require repentance, which she endorses. In this reply I defend the strict view of forgiveness against her criticism and challenge the ethical propriety of the relaxed view. I shall argue that her support for the relaxed view both runs counter to our deepest moral intuitions and serves to undermine the moral law and moral endeavour.