The Practical Wisdom of Forgiveness and Promise. Some Thoughts on the Crisis of Personal Judgment

Abstract

The article deals with the crisis of personal judgment which is overseen by H. Arendt as the main challenge for a society built on democratic principles. What could be the mechanisms for rediscovering this capacity in a Post-Soviet society? According to the author of the article the key point is a strong necessity of specific attention to the notions of forgiveness and promise treated on the basis of a philosophy of the gift. The forgiveness along with the capacity to make promise are the two forces which permit to speak about the human condition in terms of a possibility to put into practice the impossibility of an event, so to speak its fundamental novelty. The crux of the matter is to assume a practical realization of both these phenomena in the light of a common need for reconciliation and with the help of another prominent human capacity, the capacity to be courageous.