Polska i Rosja: dług pamięci czy prawo do zapomnienia? – Co etyk ma do powiedzenia w tej kwestii?

• Authors: Probucka Dorota
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The aim of the paper is to answer the following questions : how should we understand the concept of forgiveness so that reconciliation between Russia and Poland becomes possible? – Should we continue to hold hard feelings in international relations or should we leave them behind? – If we should remember our resentments, then how should we understand the postulate of memory? – On the other hand, if we should forget, then how should we understand the postulate of forgetting? I underline that the international reconciliation is a long term process. It does not happen immediately. We could compare it to a healing of a painful and deep wound. There are two the most common ways of dealing with suffering, resulting from unhealed wound. Both are false. The first way rests on ignoring, neglecting certain events, historical facts from collective consciousness. Let’s call it ideology of oblivion. The second one rests on scratching a wound, reproaching painful, national blames. Let’s call it ideology of dwelling on the past. Every single ideology is biased and partial. It distorts some historical events and therefore it is false. Either it omits some matters of facts or it exaggerates them. In my opinion, promoting these two above ideologies is a great, political and moral mistake. Because, those methods never lead to reconciliation, never heal the symbolic wound. On the contrary, they will exacerbate the inflammation. What should we do to heal this wound in international relations? We ought to disinfect it. At this case, it means binding the postulate of remembering with the courage to being in the truth. Only truth can relieve us from the evil just like disinfection removes toxins from the wound. Only due to the truth we will be able to avoid the evil in the future. Because, social awareness of wrong doing in the past can persuade us to reflection and bring change in social behavior in the future.

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Nowa Polityka Wschodnia
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 1(2)
• Pages: 82-89

Contributors

author

Probucka Dorota