Moorlock reviewed The question of German guilt by Karl Jaspers (Perspectives in continental philosophy ;)
Review of 'The question of German guilt' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Jaspers tries to pin down what sorts of guilt can attach to people and peoples, and what the appropriate responses are — using the experience of the German people during the Nazi regime as his example.
There is an element of “I am the professor, I’m in the front of the room, I have a theoretical edifice, you listen and write it all down good” about all of this. Jaspers doesn’t really argue his position so much as he declares it, leaving it to stand or fall on how much it matches your own intuition.
I appreciate his attempt to separate categories of guilt, since no generic category seems capable of carrying all of the weight that the concept typically bears — this itself is enough to vault me to a new and more interesting level of confusion on the subject. And I especially like the way he links the …
Jaspers tries to pin down what sorts of guilt can attach to people and peoples, and what the appropriate responses are — using the experience of the German people during the Nazi regime as his example.
There is an element of “I am the professor, I’m in the front of the room, I have a theoretical edifice, you listen and write it all down good” about all of this. Jaspers doesn’t really argue his position so much as he declares it, leaving it to stand or fall on how much it matches your own intuition.
I appreciate his attempt to separate categories of guilt, since no generic category seems capable of carrying all of the weight that the concept typically bears — this itself is enough to vault me to a new and more interesting level of confusion on the subject. And I especially like the way he links the inward work of taking responsibility and self-judging with the outward work of fighting for liberty in the political sphere.
