DECONSTRUCTING FORGIVENESS: JANKÉLÉVITCH’S INFLUENCE ON DERRIDA
DECONSTRUCTING FORGIVENESS: JANKÉLÉVITCH’S INFLUENCE ON DERRIDA

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses Jacques Derrida’s notion of forgiveness as an essentially aporetic phenomenon and shows that it is entirely dependent on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s concept as it was developed by him in the middle of the 20th century. Although Derrida himself never denied the influence Jankélévitch had on his thinking, Derrida’s readers are somewhat reluctant to acknowledge this influence and sometimes are completely ignorant of it. The article shows that the aporias of forgiveness that Derrida discusses are entirely dependent on the understanding of forgiveness as a gift and interpersonal event that was proposed by Jankélévitch. Furthermore, Jankélévitch himself was deeply aware of the inner contradictions of forgiveness, which is evidenced by the contradiction between his main two texts on the subject. The article is concluded by a brief discussion of the divergence between the two thinkers.

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