L'impardonnable chez Jankélévitch

Among the various efforts to clarify the possibility and meaning of forgiveness, one of the most original, and one of the first writings on the question of forgiveness after the Holocaust, was Vladimir Jankélé vitch's Forgiveness. In this article, I propose to delineate what is unique and significant with the conception of forgiveness in Jankélévitch, which implies a rejection of the two paradigmatic forms of forgiveness : theological forgiveness and secular forgiveness. Forgiving the unforgivable transforms the capactities of human existence : the one who forgives becomes inhuman, an unheimlich presence among men.