Echoes From The Holocaust: Philosophical Reflections on a Dark Time

by Alan Rosenberg

Overview

The murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children during World War II was an act of such barbarity as to constitute one of the central events of our time; yet a list of the major concerns of professional philosophers since 1945 would exclude the Holocaust. This collection of twenty-three essays, most of which were written expressly for this volume, is the first book to focus comprehensively on the profound issues and philosophical significance of the Holocaust.

The essays, written for general as well as professional readers, convey an extraordinary range of factual information and philosophical reflection in seeking to identify the haunting meanings of the Holocaust. Among the questions addressed are: How should philosophy approach the Holocaust? What part did the philosophical climate play in allowing Hitlerism its temporary triumph? What is the philosophical climate today and what are its probable cultural effects? Can philosophy help our culture to become a bulwark against future agents of evil? The multiple dimensions of the Holocaust—historical, sociological, psychological, religious, moral, and literary—are collected here for concentrated philosophical interpretations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439901618
Publisher:	Temple University Press
Publication date:	04/03/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	470
Lexile:	1460L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Alan Rosenberg is a Lecturer in the Philosophy Department at Queens College of the City University of New York.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgments PART ONE: THE HISTORICAL IMPACT 1. The Holocaust as History by George M. Kren PART TWO: ASSAULT ON MORALITY 2. Holocaust: Moral Indifference as the Form of Modern Evil by Rainer C. Baum 3. What Philosophy Can and Cannot Say about Evilby Kenneth Seeskin 4. Liberalism and the Holocaust: An Essay on Trust and the Black-Jewish Relationship by Laurence Thomas 5. The Dilemma of Choice in the Deathcamps by Lawrence L. Langer 6. On the Idea of Moral Pathology by Martin P. Golding 7. The Right Way to Act: Indicting the Victims by Abigail L. Rosenthal 8. On Losing Trust in the World by John K. Roth 9. Ethics, Evil, and the Final Solution by Warren K. Thompson PART THREE: ECHOES FROM THE DEATH CAMPS 10. The Holocaust as a Test of Philosophy by Alan Rosenberg and Paul Marcus 11. The Holocaust and Human Progress by Ronald Aronson 12. The Holocaust: Moral Theory and Immoral Acts by George M. Kren 13. Technology and Genocide: Technology as a "Form of Life" by Steven T. Katz 14. The Concept of God after Auschwitz: A Jewish Voice by Hans Jonas 15. The Psychology of Man after Auschwitz by Gerald E. Myers 16. Concentration Camps and the End of the Life-Worldby Edith Wyschogrod 17. Language and Genocide by Berel Lang PART FOUR: CHALLENGES TO THE UNDERSTANDING 18. Social Science Techniques and the Study of Concentration Camps by Hannah Arendt 19. The Crisis in Knowing and Understanding the Holocaust by Alan Rosenberg 20. The Politics of Symbolic Evasion: Germany and the Aftermath of the Holocaust by Manfred Henningsen 21. The Abuse of Holocaust Studies: Mercy Killing and the Slippery Slope by Peter H. Hare 22. The "Incomprehensibility" of the Holocaust: Tightening up Some Loose Usage by Dan Magurshak 23. Studying the Holocaust's Impact Today: Some Dilemmas of Language and Method by Alice L. and A Roy Eckardt The Contributors Index

Editorial Reviews

The Nazis tried to exterminate a community famed for rational reflection. Here 23 authors reflect on that event, with an outcome that is chilling but also stirring for those who think that the greatest of human achievements is the ability to stay rational. Of course, as Kenneth Seeskin reminds us, rational calculation breaks down in the face of such evil. Better criteria and methods would not make a difference, as shown by the very title of George M. Kren's essay ``The Holocaust and the Failure of Ethical Theory.'' But Hans Jonas argues that we can still believe in a neo-Platonic God who suffers with us. Everyone who cares about humanity should read some of these essays. Leslie Armour, Univ. of Ottawa, Canada

Library Journal

"The Nazis tried to exterminate a community famed for rational reflection. Here 23 authors reflect on that event, with an outcome that is chilling but also stirring for those who think that the greatest of human achievements is the ability to stay rational. Everyone who cares about humanity should read some of these essays."
—Library Journal


"This is a profound and eloquent collection. The essays, both individually and cumulatively, provide impressive, penetrating insights that are of very great help in the continuing and mandatory task of coming to intellectual and emotional grips with the unspeakable tragedy of the Holocaust."
—Alan Gewirtb, University of Chicago


"A wonderfully informative and also a very moving book, which helps one to understand much better than before the appalling events whose causes it probes. Anyone interested in human beings should read it. For moral philosophers it is a ‘must.’"
—Philippa Foot, UCLA

From the Publisher