Mariano Crespo, researcher of the Institute for Culture and Society of the University of Navarra, has published the second edition of his book 'El perdón. Una research filosófica' (Ediciones meeting). In the volume he analyzes the phenomenon of interpersonal forgiveness "in the sense of an authentic and immediate meeting between people," he explained.

While Crespo has focused on forgiveness between people, he has also stressed its importance for promote peace and social justice. "It would be a mistake to consider that this consists of overlooking certain negative actions, individual or of group, for the sake of a peace understood as a simple absence of conflict. It would be a very weak peace," he said.

On the other hand, he regretted that nowadays "there is a certain consideration that forgiving an offense implies a kind of acceptance of it, as if it were not so important. The author maintains that forgiveness is not "closing one's eyes" to evil, but believing in the other, "although this does not diminish one's responsibility".

In this sense, he emphasized that forgiveness supposes "a new attitude of the forgiving subject with respect to the offender". As he explained, forgiveness consists of rejecting the offense without identifying the offender with the offense.

Distinguishing offense and offender

Forgiving someone who has inflicted a wrong on us means not reducing his or her identity to his or her action. This reveals that the analysis of forgiveness, ultimately written request, involves analyzing the way in which the person gives himself.

Mariano Crespo has published the work in the framework of his research in the project 'Emotional culture and identity' of the Institute for Culture and Society, which receives financing from Zurich Seguros.

This new edition includes new analyses and a revision of the most recent bibliography . The publication coincided with the end of the Year of Mercy. "Mercy makes reference letter to that positive attitude towards the one who has inflicted an evil on us," Crespo explained. "He who forgives mercifully rejects the evil of the offense, but bets on the person of the offender," he concluded.

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