Moral Philosophy and the Holocaust

by Garrard,Eve

• ISBN13: 9780754614166
• ISBN10: 0754614166
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• 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
Geoffrey Scarre
Philosophy's Contribution to Holocaust Studies	1	(8)
Berel Lang
Ideology, Moral Complicity and the Holocaust	9	(16)
David E. Cooper
In a Class of its Own?	25	(32)
Norman Geras
Knowledge, History and the Holocaust	57	(18)
Tom Rockmore
Persons of Lesser Value: Moral Argument and the 'Final Solution'	75	(14)
Hillel Steiner
Perpetrator Motivation: Some Reflections on the Browning/ Goldhagen Debate	89	(14)
Nick Zangwill
Moral Responsibility and the Holocaust	103	(14)
Geoffrey Scarre
Four Types of Mass Murderer: Stalin, Hitler, Churchill, Truman	117	(20)
Douglas P. Lackey
Is Limited Altruism Morally Wrong?	137	(18)
Michael Freeman
Harming Some to Save Others from the Nazis	155	(14)
Frances M. Kamm
Tragic Decisions: Removing Jewish Children from their Christian Guardians in Postwar Europe	169	(32)
Daniel Statman
Forgiving the Unforgivable?	201	(30)
Laurence Thomas
Forgiveness and the Holocaust	231	(16)
Eve Garrard
The Holocaust and the Possibility of Art	247	(10)
Oliver Leaman
The Holocaust in American Life as a Moral Text	257	(18)
Lawrence Blum
Index	275