The Moral Demands of Memory [Paperback]

Jeffrey Blustein provides a rigorous account of a morality of memory.In this book, Jeffrey Blustein provides a rigorous account of a morality of memory. He offers a novel examination of memory and our relations to people and events from our past, the ways in which memory is preserved and transmitted, and the moral responsibilities associated with it.In this book, Jeffrey Blustein provides a rigorous account of a morality of memory. He offers a novel examination of memory and our relations to people and events from our past, the ways in which memory is preserved and transmitted, and the moral responsibilities associated with it.There is considerable contemporary interest in memory, both within the academy and in the public sphere. Little has been written by moral philosophers on the subject, however. In this timely book, Jeffrey Blustein explores the moral aspects and implications of memory, both personal and collective. He provides a systematic and philosophically rigorous account of a morality of memory, focusing on the value of memory, its relationship to identity, and the responsibilities associated with memory.1. Memory as a subject of evaluative inquiry; 2. Taking responsibility for one's own past; 3. Doing justice to the past; 4. Ethics, truth, and collective memory; 5. The responsibility of remembrance; 6. Memory and bearing witness.Jeffrey Blustein's marvelous The Moral Demands of Memory is the first systematic book-length philosophical discussion of a number of interconnected questions: what is the nature of personal and collective memory? What are their roles in honoring the past and repairing historical injustice? Are there any obligations to remember, and why? How is memory related to personal and collective identity? Blustein's wide-ranging discussion also addresses the issue of collective shame, the social function of myth, the role of ritual in remembering, and the nature as well as moral significance of bearing witness. These are philosophical“#