The Ethical Dimension How can history help us live in the present? - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Ethical Dimension

How can history help us live in the present?Slide2

Ethical Dimension

Ethical

dimension

of historical

thinking

helps to imbue the study of history with

meaning

The problem: impossible to read about past wrongs without making

ethical judgments

about both the perpetrators and their opponents

We must walk a very fine line…here is an example of an ethical dilemma involving the issue of slavery in the USA:Slide3

Ethical Dimension

“historians still debate exactly how many Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic during the next four centuries (until the 19

th

century). A comprehensive database compiled in the late 1990’s puts the figure at just over 11 million. Of those, fewer than 9.6 million survived the so called middle passage across the Atlantic, due to the inhuman conditions in which they were transported, and the violent suppression of any on-board resistance. Many people who were enslaved in the African interior also died on the long journey to the coast”

-

Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade-

Dr. Hakim

Adi

2001Slide4

Ethical Dimension

“Slavery, as it operated in the pervasively Christian society which was the old South, was not an adversarial relationship founded upon racial animosity. In fact, it bred on the whole, not contempt, but, over time, mutual respect. This produced a mutual esteem of the sort that always results when men give themselves to a common cause. The credit for this startling reality must go to the Christian faith…The unity and companionship that existed between the races in the South prior to the war was the fruit of a common faith”

- Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee- J. Steven Wilkins 1997Slide5

The Atomic Bomb-

Y

alta

February 1945- War In Europe is almost over- Allies have surrounded Germany

The Major Powers (Great Britain- Churchill, USA- FDR and USSR- Stalin) met to discuss some important decisions for post-war Europe

Major Decisions:

Germany was to be demilitarized

Nazi Party disbanded and members arrested* and possibly held liable

Germany was to be occupied in 4 zones (France, Britain, USA and USSR)

Poland would be restored as a country

USSR would declare war on Japan

Create a new International Organization (United Nations)Slide6

The Atomic Bomb- Potsdam

April 1945- FDR dies and is replaced by Harry S. Truman (openly hated Communism)

July 1945- Churchill loses an

e

lection as is replaced by Richard Attlee

May 7 VE Day- War in Japan continues

July 1945 the major powers again meet, this time at Potsdam

Major Decisions

Germany would still be divided, including Berlin

Nazi Leaders would be tried in an international court

UN was established

Truman demanded that Stalin leave the countries his forces had liberated

Stalin was not told about the development of the A-Bomb (but he knew through his spies)

The seed had been planted of anger, hatred and mistrust between the USA and USSRSlide7

The A-Bomb- WHY?Slide8

Perspective

“Evil” and “Good”

We already make ethical judgments on people, events and developments in history, but we may not be fit to do so

Does perspective change our opinion- does being victorious effect the lens in which we judge?

The past is a foreign country- we must try and study without making ethical

judgements

- we must of course learn form the Holocaust and the A-bomb but we cant let our moral cloud our views of a subject- judging the past fairly is the ultimate goal

Can there be indicators of guilt then?