 There are conceptions of forgiveness in the Western tradition that are closer in ethical spirit to the Confucian idea that one should rise above resentment, such as ones that forgive the offender in order to avoid bitterness and self-consuming anger and seek meaning and purpose in striving to prevent further wrongdoing in the future. However, it is significant that a very prominent form of Western forgiveness is the foregoing of resentment, which in turn is regarded as appropriate and at one’s discretion to forego. It may be revealing of the underlying ethical orientation that the focus is on what others owe to the self, and that the basis of self-respect should depend on how others treat one. That it is focused on the self may be an indication of Western individualism, but it is also arguably social in a way that makes self-respect dependent on how others treat one. In this regard, Confucianism expresses a more independent spirit in locating the basis of self-respect in how the self responds to wrongdoing and not primarily to what was done to oneself. Comparative philosophy can result in surprising comparisons that require qualification of the usual broad-stroke comparisons such as individualistic versus social orientations.