Abstract

GIBU SHIMABUKURO, Ricardo. On Regret and Forgiveness. Rev. filos.open insight [online]. 2016, vol.7, n.12, pp.9-29. ISSN 2395-8936.

This paper is a reflection on the nature of ressentiment and its powerful influence on the social order. In dialogue with the characterization of ressentiment proposed by Scheler in his Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912), the autor describes the particular form of violence implied in this affective disposition. The thirst for vengeance which animates it, fosters an unceasing dynamics of attacks and counterattacks, which can only be resolved through forgiveness. If it is only possible to forgive through love, where does the assaulted one find the strength to love the aggressor? In the last part of this paper, the autor intends to give an answer to this question in a way which is very close to the works of the German theologian Romano Guardini.

Keywords : Forgiveness; Love; F. Nietzsche; Ressentiment; M. Scheler.