No Right to Be Forgiven
摘要
This paper suggests a theory of rectificatory justice, the essential elements of which include restoration, compensation, and the idea of a just apology. The aim is to show that, given an argument from this conception of rectificatory justice, there is no right to be forgiven. No right to be forgiven should be ascribed to the perpetrators of injustice. Two arguments that are not grounded in any particular theory of rectificatory justice, the Agency Argument and the Expressive Argument, have been offered in support of a right to be forgiven; however, neither of these arguments succeeds.