The School of History and Philosophy presents: Ross Poole (New School for Social Research, New York)
The Politics of Shame Abstract: In writing of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troop in January, 1945, Primo Levi wrote of the ‘shame that the just man experiences at another man’s crime.‘ Around the same time, Hannah Arendt wrote of being ‘ashamed of being human,’ an ‘elemental shame’ that carried the idea that ‘men must assume responsibility for all crimes committed by men.’ Arendt goes on to argue that this moral insight must be translated into political form, and this task is ‘the precondition of any modern political thinking.’ In this paper, I develop an account of shame intended to do justice to Levi’s and Arendt’s views. In the process, I engage with recent work by Bernard Williams and David Velleman. Professor Ross Poole teaches in the Departments of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research, New York. He is the author of Morality and Modernity (Routledge, 1991) and Nation and Identity (Routledge, 1999), both of which were selected by Choice as outstanding academic monographs for their respective years of publication. He has also written many articles, both for academic journals and collections, and the press. His work has been translated into four languages. In recent years, his main interests have been in nationalism, multiculturalism, indigenous rights, memory, responsibility, and justice. He is currently finishing a work entitled Past Justice. When? Tuesday 15 June, 1:30 p.m. Where? Room 308B, Morven Brown Building, University of New South Wales No bookings are necessary, and all are welcome. For further information, please contact Joanne Faulkner, [email protected], 9385 2287 Dr. Joanne Faulkner ARC Research Fellow School of History and Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Room 338, Morven Brown Building University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052 Australia [email protected] +61 2 9385 2287 http://hist-phil.arts.unsw.edu.au/staff/joanne-faulkner-633.html Treasurer, Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy: http://www.ascp.org.au_______________________________________________ SydPhil mailing list: http://sydphil.info 950 subscribers now served. To UNSUBSCRIBE, change your MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS, find ANSWERS TO COMMON PROBLEMS, or visit our ONLINE ARCHIVES, please go to the LIST INFORMATION PAGE: http://sydphil.info
