Coles

Loading Inventory...
Judging the Past: Ethics, History and Memory

Judging the Past: Ethics, History and Memory in Ottawa, ON

By None

Current price: $175.50
Visit retailer's website
Judging the Past: Ethics, History and Memory

By None

Judging the Past: Ethics, History and Memory in Ottawa, ON

Current price: $175.50
Loading Inventory...

Size: Paperback

Visit retailer's website
*Product information may vary - to confirm product availability, pricing, shipping and return information please contact Coles
This book presents an extended argument for the thesis that people of the present day are not debarred in principle from passing moral judgement on people who lived in former days, notwithstanding the inevitable differences in social and cultural circumstances that separate us. Some philosophers argue that because we can see things only from our own peculiar historical situation, we lack a sufficiently objective vantage point from which to appraise past people and their acts.  If they are correct, then the judgements passed by twenty-first-century people must inevitably be biased and irrelevant, grounded on moral standards that would have seemed alien in that 'foreign country' of the past.  This book challenges this relativistic position, contending that it seriously underestimates our ability to engage imaginatively with people who, however much their lifestyles may have differed from our own, were our fellow human beings, endowed with the samebasic instincts, aversions, desires and aspirations.  Taking a stand on a naturalistic theory of human beings, coupled with a Kantian conception of the equal worth of all human members of the Kingdom of Ends, Scarre argues that historical moral judgements can be sensitive to circumstances, fitting and fair, and untainted by anachronism. The discussion ends by examining the implications of this position for the practice of historians and for the ethics of memory and commemoration.
This book presents an extended argument for the thesis that people of the present day are not debarred in principle from passing moral judgement on people who lived in former days, notwithstanding the inevitable differences in social and cultural circumstances that separate us. Some philosophers argue that because we can see things only from our own peculiar historical situation, we lack a sufficiently objective vantage point from which to appraise past people and their acts.  If they are correct, then the judgements passed by twenty-first-century people must inevitably be biased and irrelevant, grounded on moral standards that would have seemed alien in that 'foreign country' of the past.  This book challenges this relativistic position, contending that it seriously underestimates our ability to engage imaginatively with people who, however much their lifestyles may have differed from our own, were our fellow human beings, endowed with the samebasic instincts, aversions, desires and aspirations.  Taking a stand on a naturalistic theory of human beings, coupled with a Kantian conception of the equal worth of all human members of the Kingdom of Ends, Scarre argues that historical moral judgements can be sensitive to circumstances, fitting and fair, and untainted by anachronism. The discussion ends by examining the implications of this position for the practice of historians and for the ethics of memory and commemoration.

More About Coles at Bayshore Shopping Centre

Coles is renowned for its outstanding customer service and great selection of books. Along with the vast array of magazines, stationary, audio-books, children's literature, fiction, non-fiction and reference books, you can find accessories to make your reading experience more pleasurable. We can recommend the very best in reading today. We will help you search our titles for exactly what you need, and if we do not have it in stock, we will order it for you.

100 Bayshore Dr, Nepean, ON K2B 8C1, Canada

Find Coles at Bayshore Shopping Centre in Ottawa, ON

Visit Coles at Bayshore Shopping Centre in Ottawa, ON
Powered by Adeptmind