Forgiveness in the plural

Philosophers have observed that forgiveness tends to weaken the wrongdoer's feelings of guilt, at times sufficing to disarm them altogether. This paper explores the nature of forgiveness through this observation. What must forgiveness be like to have this effect on the forgiven? How to understand its capacity to unmoor guilt, and thereby transform not only the relationship between victim and wrongdoer, but that of the wrongdoer with herself? I argue that forgiveness is at heart a resolution by the victim to change, together with the wrongdoer, the shared significance of the wrong. My goal is to show that it is only by understanding forgiveness as an essentially plural undertaking that we can hope to explain its enduring importance to the forgiven.