Forgiveness, self-respect, and the value of resentment

As a moral philosopher rather than a psychologist, I will not be able to follow the format typical for this volume. I have no experiments or studies to report, no recommendations for further research, and no clinical recommendations. My interest is in ethical questions, and my discipline is not empirical but is essentially conceptual and normative-seeking to clarify the concepts that we use in moral evaluation and to suggest ways in which such evaluation might profitably be structured. One goal-one that goes back at least as far in time as Socrates-is to raise skeptical doubts when certain moral views have uncritically become a part of the conventional wisdom of the day.