American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

Volume 91, Issue 1, Winter 2017

Traversing Forgiveness
Elucidating “Height” and “Depth” in the Epilogue to Memory, History, Forgetting

In the epilogue to Memory, History, Forgetting, Paul Ricoeur introduces an overlooked “vertical” axis into the problem of forgiveness. This verticality runs from the “depth” of fault to the “height” of forgiveness. For Ricoeur, forgiveness only appears an impossible “exchange” if one excludes this verticality from the question. Instead, he calls forgiveness “difficult” because it traverses from height to depth. This article argues that Ricoeur’s notion of the horizontal and the vertical in Memory, History, Forgetting is best understood as an allusion to his account of time and eternity in Chapter 1 of Time and Narrative, volume 1, even though Ricoeur himself does not explicitly make this connection. In light of the ontological tenor of this connection, the author also suggests a slight modification of Ricoeur’s account, calling forgiveness “improbable” rather than difficult.