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Beyond the Pale of Forgiveness: The Touchstone of Simon
- Philosophy and Literature
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 36, Number 2, October 2012
- pp. 301-315
- 10.1353/phl.2012.0029
- Article
- Additional Information
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What calls for thought today is radical yet ordinary thoughtlessness. But rather than become a touchstone, “the banality of evil” has been co-opted by the very thoughtlessness it would expose. Is a touchstone even possible here? Auden’s critique of Arendt’s inheritance of forgiveness points to a possibility: Jesus’ rebuke of Simon in Luke 7:36–50. Simon places himself beyond the pale of forgiveness, to which Jesus’ rebuke may recall him. How so? Will the answer that emerges introduce a touchstone that may help us become thoughtful in the face of how ordinary rootless evil has become?