Vergeben

The present text is based on a lecture given by Jacques Derrida in 1997/1998 at universities in Krakow, Warsaw, Athens, Cape Town, and Jerusalem. Starting from reflections on the word "pardon" in both its everyday and specific usage, as well as the aporias in the relationship between "don" ("gift") and "pardon" ("forgiveness"), Derrida develops his inquiry into forgiveness along the guiding questions of "who?", "to whom?", and "what?". Key reference points include texts by Vladimir Jankélévitch, as well as his correspondence with a German and Paul Celan's poem "Todtnauberg." Derrida's subtle reading makes it clear that unconditional forgiveness must transcend the dimensions of law and calculation while remaining "undecidably ambivalent." Thus, an "aporetic logic" of forgiveness emerges: forgiveness, if it exists, can only be understood as the forgiveness of the unforgivable.