Neu anfangen | Hannah Arendts Beitrag zu einer Sozialtheorie des Verzeihens

Despite the important role it plays in the lives of almost everyone, sociology has so far paid only little, if any, attention to condonation (‘Verzeihung’) and forgiveness (‘Vergebung’). This essay bridges the gap with reference to Georg Simmel, Hannah Arendt, Vladimir Jankélévitch, and Jacques Derrida. In opposition to empirical studies focusing on everyday practices (‘Vergebungshandlungen’), I will sketch the outlines of a short social theory of forgiveness with regard to its numeric, temporal, and spatial aspects as well as its limits in the light of the Shoa. From this it follows that – beyond the order bias of social science – to forgive someone cannot primarily be understood as an act of cooperation or repair of damaged social relationships, but rather as a dissolving of social bonds which had turned into manacles