Professor Kathleen A. Moran, Ph.D./Professor Dr. Jens Timmermann
Alfried Krupp Senior Fellows
(October 2020 - September 2021)
Professor Kathleen A. Moran, Ph.D.
- Born in 1979 in Reno, Nevada
- BA in English and Philosophy, Santa Clara University. MA and PhD in Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
- Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University
Professor Dr. Jens Timmermann
- Born 1970 in Minden
- Studied Philosophy, History and English at the University of Göttingen and at Balliol College, Oxford. PhD in Philosophy from the University of Göttingen
- Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews
Tandem fellow project: "Forgiveness as duty“
Our project is an attempt to answer important questions about forgiveness within a broadly Kantian ethical framework. We take forgiveness to be practical (rather than, as is often assumed, affective): Forgiveness is the — successfully realised – resolution to treat someone who has wronged us with unrestricted goodwill. It is a form of beneficent action. We emphasise that the duty to forgive does not generate a corresponding right on the part of the wrong-doer (which would lead to absurd consequences). The victim ought to forgive the wrong-doer freely, just as one ought to extend assistance to another freely and of one's own accord. Willingness to forgive is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a good person. The duty to forgive does not require the wrong-doer to apologise; but the victim must be sincerely persuaded that the wrong-doer will not repeat the offence. Moreover, self-respect commands that one no forgive too readily; and we make room for the possibility that an attempt to forgive may come to nothing.