Analysis Of Martha C. Nussbaum's Anger And Forgiveness

People are angry or furious but when the time passes they do not even remember their anger. Should they be angry at the moment or should they accept it as Martha C. Nussbaum says in the “Anger and Forgiveness” book? In the Middle Realm, anger is the “domain of life” (p. 138) and how we spend our life. Nussbaum says that we deal with people who we meet temporary: at work, at the store or in the street on a regular basis. In addition, she points out that in this realm we do not get into a deep relationship with these people, and this is a short term situation. Furthermore, Nussbaum says that she find it easy to transition herself to a non-anger situation with people who she loves. On the other hand, she finds it harder to transition from this

These heterogeneous elements could be “improper termination of employment, negligent medical treatment, harassment on the job, theft etc.” (p.139). Instead of being angry, Nussbaum suggests Transition (before) or Transition-Anger (after). She also points out that “there is no point in getting further embroiled, mentally and emotionally” (p.141). Even though according to Nussbaum anger is not valuable but it can also “be useful attention-getting device” (p.141) and as a signal to address the problem. Then, Nussbaum talks about forgiveness that relates to the Middle Realm. She talks about forgiveness through an apology. Except, the best apology that is received and not extracted. Nussbaum also points out the importance of unconditional forgiveness because it is more common in an everyday situation in the Middle Realm. The most important about anger, that it is a part of our social life and how we react to it. As Nussbaum says it is easy to say than to follow Seneca’s advice because “he acknowledges by depicting himself as repeatedly falling into anger, even after years of self-attention” (p.

Since this is the Middle Realm problem and it is a short term problem people should transition themselves to non-anger. British Airways “canceled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick Saturday after the IT outage” (article). This IT problem made many travelers without any opportunity to do anything else. Passengers had to wait long lines to check, rebook a flight and reclaim lost luggage. This IT problem created a lot of people at the airport and to reduce that the people were not let into the terminal. Melanie Ware said that “Everyone is upset. There are people in tears” (article). Nussbaum points that this is unimportant and it is an only temporary problem. In addition, after some time people will forget that they were waiting and it loses its importance. If it will lose its importance in the future why to pay attention to it now. Which leads that the anger is not effective because British Airways will not change anything within a short period of time. Even though airplane outrage does not happen often when it happens people are affected and they face anger problem at the plane