An empirical-phenomenological investigation of the experience of forgiving another

Forgiveness has been recognized as a meaningful phenomenon by theology, sociology, and psychology. Two thematizations of the phenomenon dominate the literature: forgiveness as a working through of resentment, and forgiveness as identified with reconciliation. Despite multidisciplinary acknowledgement as a significant phenomenon, forgiveness has lacked an empirically derived general theory with which the existing literature might be critically examined and integrated. The human scientific method of empirical-phenomenology, utilizing the described experiences of everyday instances of forgiving another, was considered appropriate to the task of providing a general structure of the experience of forgiving another. The general structure arrived at through this method suggests that a resolution model of forgiving, in which one experiences unresolution and blocking of one's being-toward-the-future, is more consistent with the lived experience than is either a reconciliation or a resentment model. The results indicate that forgiving arises from an experience of discord within the self. The study suggests that it is a misidentification to equate or restrict forgiveness to its explicit spoken expression. The study argues instead for a process perspective on forgiving which looks at the transformation of cognition and affect which lead one to assess that he/she has forgiven. Given the role of temporality in the experience of forgiving, an existential framing of the phenomenon was deemed appropriate, and dialogue with Heidegger's phenomenological ontology in Being and Time was undertaken. The model of forgiving which emerges is considered relevant to the type of working through which often occurs in psychotherapy, particularly in differentiating the resolution of resentment from that which occurs in forgiving.