Review Of "The Moral Demands Of Memory" By J. Blustein

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

8-1-2008

Published In

Choice

Abstract

Only recently have philosophers turned their attention to the morality of memory. Blustein (Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Barnard College) offers an important new book that raises profound questions about the nature and extent of one's duty to remember. This duty ranges from the individual and prosaic to the collective and profound. The latter is especially problematic because "collective memory" raises questions about the nature of collectives, what it means to remember something that occurred well before one was born, and the complicated relation among history, memory, and truth. Blustein never skirts the difficult issues. What is it, for example, to "bear witness"? Why might one not feel guilt but shame for a nation's past misdeeds? Why apologize for long-past wrongs? Blustein draws on many sources, especially Avishai Margalit's The Ethics of Memory (CH, Oct'03, 41-0858), Margaret Gilbert's Sociality and Responsibility (2000), and Janna Thompson's Taking Responsibility for the Past (CH, Oct'03, 41-0867). If there is a criticism, it is that Blustein doesn't resolve with sufficient depth the many challenging questions he addresses. But this is a small criticism of an outstanding book, which is written in a clear, nontechnical style and should be readily accessible to any serious reader. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.

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This work is freely available courtesy of Choice Reviews. The review has been reproduced in full in the abstract field.

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