Thinking Towards Humanity Themes From Norman Geras

by Wijze, Stephen; Garrard, Eve; Aaronovitch, David; Benson, Ophelia; Calder, Gideon

• ISBN13: 9780719080876
• ISBN10: 0719080878
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-30
• Publisher: MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS

Summary

How should we respond to the inhumanity that suffused the twentieth Century and continues in the present one? Has there been an adequate treatment of this issue by the political left? Questions such as these are treated in this, the first scholarly book to combine academic and blogging approaches to some of the major political issues of the day. It does this by focusing on the work of Norman Geras - Marxist, political philosopher and blogger - and developing the central themes of his work such as crimes against humanity, the Holocaust, Marxism, and the means/ends problem in politics. It contains contributions by famous political philosophers such as Michael Walzer, Hillel Steiner and David McLennan, and bloggers and journalists such as David Aaronovitch, Nick Cohen and Ophelia Benson. The book contains a unique response by Geras in which he draws together the various themes it covers. It will be of interest to all who are concerned with these pressing political issues of our time. The book will be particularly relevant for those with an academic or general interest in politics, philosophy, sociology, genocide studies, applied ethics, international relations and law. It will also be of interest to bloggers and all those who regard new technology as having significant implications for public debate on these issues.

Author Biography

Stephen de Wijze is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Manchester Eve Garrard is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Manchester

Table of Contents

List of contributors	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
List of figures	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
What is left internationalism?	p. 15
The Marxism of Norman Geras	p. 27
Blogging interlude (i): Professor Geras and Blogger Norm	p. 43
Socialism or barbarism: Marxism and the Holocaust	p. 49
Blogging interlude (ii): What is it like to be a blogger?	p. 64
Aurum de stercore: anti-totalitarianism in the thought of Primo Levi	p. 69
Evil and the norms of society	p. 89
The case against forgiveness	p. 107
Blogging interlude (iii): A fine site	p. 125
Geras on means and ends: the case for a prefigurative constraint	p. 133
Resistance beyond the moral boundary: some thoughts on the limits of dirty hands	p. 150
Blogging interlude (iv): Democracy first	p. 175
Geras on context and indifference	p. 181
Humanism and social hope	p. 198
Evaluation and the quantification of freedom	p. 211
This green and pleasant land: Britain and the Jews	p. 220
Blogging interlude (v): Cricket: the best-loved game	p. 250
Responses	p. 256
Bibliography	p. 280
Index	p. 301
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.