Moral Philosophy and the Holocaust

by Garrard,Eve

• ISBN13: 9780754614159
• ISBN10: 0754614158
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

How far can we ever hope to understand the Holocaust? What can we reasonably say about right and wrong, moral responsibility, praise and blame, in a world where ordinary reasons seem to be excluded? This book draws together new work by leading moral philosophers to present a wide range of perspectives on the Holocaust. Contributors focus on themes of central importance, including: moral responsibility for genocide; the moral uniqueness of the Holocaust; responding to extreme evil; the role of ideology; the moral psychology of perpetrators and victims of genocide; forgiveness and the Holocaust; and the impact of the 'Final Solution' on subsequent culture. Topics are treated with the precision and rigour characteristic of analytic philosophy. Scholars, teachers and students with an interest in moral theory, applied ethics, genocide and Holocaust studies will find this book of particular value, as will all those seeking greater insight into ethical issues surrounding Nazism, race-hatred and intolerance.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	vii
Introduction	ix
Eve Garrard and Geoffrey Scarre
1 Philosophy's Contribution to Holocaust Studies	1	(8)
Berel Lang
2 Ideology, Moral Complicity and the Holocaust	9	(16)
David E. Cooper
3 In a Class of its Own?	25	(32)
Norman Geras
4 Knowledge, History and the Holocaust	57	(18)
Tone Rockmore
5 Persons of Lesser Value: Moral Argument and the 'Final Solution'	75	(14)
Hillel Steiner
6 Perpetrator Motivation: Some Reflections on the Browning/Goldhagen Debate	89	(14)
Nick Zangwill
7 Moral Responsibility and the Holocaust	103	(14)
Geoffrey Scarre
8 Four Types of Mass Murderer: Stalin, Hitler, Churchill, Truman	117	(20)
Douglas P Lackey
9 Is Limited Altruism Morally Wrong?	137	(18)
Michael Freeman
10 Harming Some to Save Others from the Nazis	155	(14)
Frances M. Kamm
11 Tragic Decisions: Removing Jewish Children from their Christian Guardians in Postwar Europe	169	(32)
Daniel Station
12 Forgiving the Unforgivable?	201	(30)
Laurence Thomas
13 Forgiveness and the Holocaust	231	(16)
Eve Garrard
14 The Holocaust and the Possibility of Art	247	(10)
Oliver Leaman
15 The Holocaust in American Life as a Moral Text	257	(18)
Lawrence Blum
Index	275