Daniel Little: Confronting Evil in History (video abstract)
Παρουσίαση του βιβλίου τού Daniel
Little, Confronting Evil in History, Cambridge University Press (Elements in Historical Theory and Practice), Κέιμπριτζ – Νέα Υόρκη, 2022 [3΄].
Confronting Evil in History is a contribution to the philosophy
of history, but it is a somewhat unusual contribution. The twentieth
century witnessed the most sustained and devastating regimes of mass
murder, enslavement, and degradation that the world has yet witnessed. The
genocide of the Holocaust, the massive killing and degradation associated with
Stalin’s war of starvation against the Ukrainian countryside (the Holodomor),
and other instances of barbarous and state-initiated
periods of atrocity during the century were enormous
historical evils that must be confronted honestly and fully if humanity is to
hope to avoid such catastrophes in the future.
That is the premise of this Elements
volume. The Element poses the question: how can humanity grow from confronting
this history honestly? Reflecting deeply upon the history of the Holocaust
or the Holodomor seriously and honestly has the potential of changing our
natures, making these crimes less likely in the future. Truthful historical inquiry is crucial to
our human ability to learn from the periods of atrocity and evil
in the past, and to do better in the future.
In short, this Elements
volume seeks to explore the difference that the evils of the twentieth
century make for both philosophy and history. The organization of
the Element brings together relevant philosophical ideas about humanity
with new aspects of historians’ knowledge of the evils of the twentieth
century. Section 1
exposes the reader to relevant ideas about human nature, culture,
and society drawn from European philosophy, as well as a brief
treatment of the concept of evil. Section 2 introduces the idea of historicized humanity,
reflecting the view that human culture and institutions
are fundamentally the creations of human communities and traditions. Section 3 discusses new historical themes about the Holocaust,
and Section 4 focuses on “lies and myths” in historical
narratives about the period. Section 5 returns to
the topic of the relationship between the evils of the twentieth century and
the need for a transformation in philosophy in
light of the genocides and totalitarianism experienced during the twentieth
century. Honest historical research and reckoning
are crucial for this task of self-making.
I hope you will read this Elements
volume to get a better engagement with these important issues of evil, truth,
history, and human identity.