"Attending to Inadvertency": The Meaning of Forgetting in Joseph Butler's Account of Forgiveness

Abstract

This dissertation investigates Joseph Butler’s account of forgiveness alongside the concept of forgetting. Since the late twentieth century, philosophers have maintained that Butler separates forgetting from forgiving. Jeffrie Murphy, for example, emphasized that Butler regarded forgiveness to be a moral virtue that happens for a reason. To identify forgiving with forgetting would be a mistake because forgetting is something that just happens to us, or rather, something that results from boredom. Forgetting is too far removed from agency to count as a moral virtue. This view eventually became accepted by many North American philosophers examining the ethics of forgiveness. Based on this consensus, my thesis aims to address three main areas: First, to develop how Murphy’s reading of Butler became traditionally accepted by many philosophers. Second, the analysis moves to a deeper investigation of Butler’s account of forgiveness, and the theory of the passions that he likely supported, during the time he wrote and preached. Towards the end of sermon nine, “Upon Forgiveness of Injuries,” Butler provides further reflections on the importance of making allowances for inadvertency—both on behalf of wrongdoers and ourselves--as another crucial way to help convince the sceptic to forgive. In some circumstances, inadvertency could be derived from a mistake or accident. In other cases, however, inadvertency could be derived from forgetting. By considering inadvertent forgetting to help elicit forgiveness of injuries, Butler's account of forgiveness clearly involves a consideration of forgetting that scholars have neglected to address in his account of forgiveness. Finally, the dissertation observes some recent empirical studies—in neuroscience and social psychology—on the relationship between forgetting and forgiving. The growing research helps to support the view that Butler's appeal to an inadvertent forgetting is still accurate, even today.