Transcript Miscellaneous Class Notes

Existentialist Ethics:
Class Notes for June 5, 2013
Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
University of San Diego
[email protected]
August 4, 2016
8/4/2016
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Bringing Order from Chaos
As you know, my handwriting leaves much to be desired—
foremost among those qualities that are lacking is legibility.
This is exacerbated by the fact that we have relatively little
whiteboard space to work with in our classroom. This makes
the already difficult to-read notes on the board even more
difficult to decipher because they are all clumped together in a
small space.
So, here’s a photo of the whiteboard at the end of Wednesday’s
classs and, following that, a decipering of the main points.
Ideally, yoou should have something approximating these notes in
yur own notes from the class meeting.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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Class Whiteboard 8/5/2013
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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Collaboration with the Nazis:
A couple of movies we mentioned
The issue of French collaboration with the Nazis in
deporting Jews to the death camps was
mentioned, and I referred a couple of excellent
books/movies on this topic.
The event I mentioned was the roundup of 28,000
French Jews, 13,000 of whom were locked up for
days in the Vélodrome d'Hiver (colloquially
referred to as the “Vel' d'Hiv”) under brutal
conditions.
Although directed by the Germans, the roundup was carried out by 9,000
French policemen.
For a quick (and largely accurate) overview of this event, see the Wikipedia
article:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vel%27_d%27Hiv_Roundup
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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Sarah’s Key (2010)
“Elle s’appelait Sarah”
• Based on the novel of the same name
by Tatiana De Rosnay, this movie is
set in contemporary France as stars
Kristen Scott Thomas as an American
journalist marrying into a French family.
She gradually uncovers disturbing
clues that suggest their apartment
originally belonged to Jews deported
and killed in the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup.
• This provides an excellent example of
the way in which the past lives on in
the present.
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Lawrence
• http://ethicsmatters.net
IMDB M. Hinman
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La Rafle (2010)
• Written and directed by Rose
Bosch, this movie depicted
the events of the roundup in
semi-documentary fashion,
centering around an eleven
year old Jewish boy named
Joseph.
• IMDB
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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Targets of the Nazi extermination program
Although Jews were the principal targets of the Nazi
extermination program, other groups were targeted as
well:
• Homosexuals
• Gypsies
• The disabled
• The Poles (also targeted for enslavement)
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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Men, Over-men, and Under-men
The Nazis envisioned the development of an Aryan super
race, the Übermenschen—literally, the “over-man”
They saw many other groups, such as the Poles and other
Slavs, as “Untermenschen”—literally, “under-men.”
Übermenschen
Menschen
• Aryans
• Hitler’s ideal
• Ordinary
humans
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
Untermenschen
•
•
•
•
Sub-human
Jews
Slavs
Gypsies
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Developments at the beginning of the
modern age
We noted that there were a number of factors that
contributed to changing consciousness at the beginning
of the modern age:
• Travel and the discovery of other cultures
• Posed important questions about relativism
• The rise of science
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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God and the Problem of Evil
The two world wars and the Holocaust posed problems for
those who believed in God.
In particular, how do we reconcile such massive evil with a
God who is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful?
The Holocaust in particular raised this question for many. In
light of such evil,
• should we simply give up our belief in God?
• Conclude that God is not all-powerful?
• Conclude that God is not all-good?
• Conclude that God is not all-knowing?
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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The Prooblem of Evil
God
Evil
Omnipotent
Is God not able
to prevent evil
• (all-powerful)
Omniscient
• (all-knowing)
Is God unaware of
evil?
Omnibenevolent
Is God malevolent?
• (willing good to all
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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The Moral Legacy of WW II
The second World War left different questions for different
countries.
• For the Germans, the lingering question was how much
those alive during the war cooperated with the Nazis.
• See recent articles in Der Spiegel on this issue
• The extremely popular new TV series, “Unsere
Mütter, Unsere Väter,” also deals directly with this
issue.
• For the French, the issue is the extent to which
individuals collaborated with the Germans.
• See Sartre’s Paris under the Occupation on this issue.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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Deconstruction
We briefly discussed the way in which
the successor to existential thought in
France was Deconstructionism, a
philosophical approach that
emphasizes the importance of
concentrating on that which is in the
“margins” of philosophy, of making the
implicit/hidden into the explicit point of
investigation.
The Centre Pompidou provides an example of this in architecture.
What is usually hidden is moved to the outside, made visible. Note
that staircases, ventilation ducts, and the like are moved to the
outside of the building rather than being concealed within walls
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://ethicsmatters.net
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