Crazy Gemini Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Hey,I graduated from the IB in May 2012, I passed and got to my uni. Now, our Module tutor in philosophy has given us an amazing assignment for our first assessment: write a conceptual analysis of 1,000 words on one of the following concepts: love, friendship, happiness, forgiveness, goodness and trust. I'm trying to analyse the concept of forgiveness and I'm a little (a bloody lot) stuck. We're not allowed to use books either, but I have no idea where to start... So guys, please help me? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Well I'm not 100% on what a conceptual analysis is, so this may be quite useless, but I'd look at the mechanics of forgiveness. What is it, how do we do it, what is the value of it? In what ways is it a contract between two people? What role does forgiveness play for the forgiver and the forgiven, respectively? Does it necessarily require an acceptance of the forgiveness from the forgiven, or can you forgive someone without them accepting it? Is its role partly social convention and custom to show that you're both part of the same 'group', so actually can it be a social marker? For instance in the UK it's typical to say "sorry" and forgive somebody in a formal way if THEY bumped into you in the street - both of you should say sorry, which indicates neither of you thought it was intentional and by courteously sharing the blame, you both acknowledge it as an accident simultaneously. Does your rank in society or relative ranks in society affect forgiveness - e.g. can somebody low down forgive somebody higher up? Also the many different ways in which people use forgiveness, for instance bereaved family members may 'forgive' the murderer of their child/mother/brother/etc., - but what kind of nature does this forgiveness have? It may be a way of dissipating their grief - or alternatively, of making them feel like better people because despite the gross and immoral nature of what was done to them that they can rise above it with pure 'moral' reactions such as compassion, forgiveness etc.? Does forgiveness have a strong religious and moral role? Why was jesus in christianity killed in order to 'forgive' mankind of their sins - how come forgiveness through death is such a key part of a big religion? Can you move on from something if your apology has not been accepted and forgiven? Don't know if it's philosophy or not, but to what extent is forgiveness actually an evolutionary necessity in order for us to live together and co-operate as a group? Is understanding why somebody did something necessary to forgive them? Are understanding why somebody did something and forgiveness in any way the same thing - if so why, if not, why and in what scenarios?There's probably more but that should be 1,000 words easily! Assuming I'm going down the right lines by asking loads of random questions about the nature of the whole thing. It's actually a very interesting thing to think about. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Gemini Posted October 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Thank you! You've given me loads to think about! Conceptual analysis is essentially what Socrates did in the early platonic dialogues, when he broke things down to the "what is x?" Questions, eg "what is courage?" In Laches, or "what is piety?" In Euthyphro... Break the concept down into smaller ideas and so on :-)Thank you very much! It's much appreciated :-) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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