What do Socrates, Plato and Aristotle have to say about forgiveness?
This is an excellent discussion of their views of pity and compassion (which in Greek are often the same word as forgiveness): http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/45526/excerpt/9780521845526_excerpt.pdf An article on Plato’s perspectives: http://www.jstor.org/pss/3228153 And a book excerpt (you have to know that sungnome in Greek can mean forgiveness or pardon in English to understand the excerpt): http://books.google.com/books?id=KOAoQiRFo70C&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=sungnome+Plato&source=bl&ots=vQUK0mZHjT&sig=SI2am42TKft3qxNKxfJ30cCO0RI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result And here is a longer discussion of Aristotle’s views on how forgiveness fits into his ideas of justice: http://www.texttribe.com/routledge/J/Justice,%20equity%20and%20law.html As for Socrates: given what we know about Socrates’ influence on Plato as a friend and teacher, it’s hard to do much better than assuming it’s about the same as Plato’s. It’s very difficult to differentiate between what Plato said and w
