• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.52
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• pp.79-110
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• 2018

This purpose of this study was to address the issue of forgiving unforgivable crimes, inevitably raised in Paul Ricoeur's thoughts. He explores the possibility of righteous historical representation of tragic events in Western history. Being aware of injustices of amnesty indiscriminately extended by the government, he studied the process through in which a genuine pardon should unfold before granting amnesty. He believes that this process called the "odyssey of forgiveness" presupposes the process of "imputability," in which the perpetrator should acknowledge his/her wrongdoing as his/her act and take reasonable responsibilities for it in a modest position. However, such acknowledgement of wrongdoing cannot be any reason for the victim to necessarily grant forgiveness to the perpetrator. According to him, forgiveness is a gift and the power of love enabled by a complete forgiver only. The initiative of forgiveness is attributable to the forgiver only. To never relinquish tension between love and justice in the forgiving process, he devises a way of planning an equation of forgiveness in a vertical scheme. Finally, he explains the process of requesting and granting forgiveness in a form of a righteous historical representation against the oblivion of past tragic events. He contends that this event of forgiveness promises a new life and a new era to all seeking and granting forgiveness, and that write a righteous history in eschatological hope.