Vladimir Jank幨憝itch ─ The Time of Forgiveness

In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in the work of Vladimir Jankelevitch (1903-1985), the French-Jewish philosopher and music theorist. Jankelevitch held the chair of moral philosophy at the Sorbonne from 1951 to 1979. His philosophical writing includes works on Schelling, Bergson, and Plotinus; his musicological writing includes works on Faure, Ravel, and Debussy. Perhaps his most debated work is Forgiveness, translated into English in 2005.

The Time of Forgiveness by Aaron Looney is the first critical study of Jankelevitch in English. It traces Jankelevitch's reflections on the conditions of forgiveness and the temporality of forgiveness in its relation to creation, history, and memory. Looney demonstrates the influence of Jewish and Christian thought on Jankelevitch's philosophy of forgiveness, examining the interconnection of metaphysics, mysticism, aesthetics, and ethics. On questions concerning the gift character of forgiveness, the role of retributive emotions in conceptions of justice, and the limits of reason, Looney compares Jankelevitch with past and contemporary philosophers, including Aristotle, Butler, Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Scheler, Arendt, Derrida, Levinas, and Ricoeur. He argues for the unity of Jankelevitch's two works on forgiveness his initial polemical essay against forgiveness and his later ode to forgiveness, and he highlights the tensions in Jankelevitch's philosophy between interpersonal forgiveness and pure forgiveness.

The Shoah was the pivotal historical event in Jankelevitch's life. As this book shows, Jankelevitch's question "is forgiveness possible as a response to evil?" remains a potent philosophical question today. Paradoxically, for Jankelevitch, evil is both the impetus for forgiveness and the obstacle to forgiveness.

Aaron T. Looney is Assistant Professor for Philosophy on the Catholic-Theology Faculty and Lecturer on the Philosophy Faculty at Eberhard-Karls University, Tubingen, Germany.