A powerful work of moral and political philosophy.The idea which I shall present here came to me more or less out of the blue. I was on a train some five years ago, on my way to spend a day at Headingley and I was reading a book about the death camp at Sobibor... The particular, not very appropriate, conjunction involved for me in this train journey... had the effect of fixing my thoughts on one of the more dreadful features of human coexistence, when in the shape of a simple five-word phrase the idea occurred to me. In The Contract of Mutual Indifference, Norman Geras discusses a central aspect of the experience of the Holocaust with a view to exploring its most important contemporary implications. In a bold and powerful synthesis of memorial, literary record, historical reflection and political theory, he focuses on the figure of the bystander—the bystander to the destruction of the Jews of Europe and the bystander to more recent atrocities—to consider the moral consequences of looking on without active response at persecution and great suffering. Geras argues that the tragedy of European Jewry, so widely pondered by historians, social scientists, psychologists, theologians and others, has not yet found its proper reflection within political philosophy. Attempting to fill the gap, he adapts an old idea from within that tradition of enquiry, the idea of the social contract, to the task of thinking about the triangular relation between perpetrators, victims and bystanders, and draws a somber conclusion from it. Geras goes on to ask how far this conclusion may be offset by the hypothesis of a universal duty to bring aid. The Contract of Mutual Indifference is an original and challenging work, aimed at the complacent abstraction of much contemporary theory. It is supplemented by three shorter essays on the implications of the Jewish catastrophe for conceptions of human nature and progress and for certain types of Marxist explanation.
“Geras’s is a remarkable book written with passion, compassion, and a genuine belief in the possibility of a better future. He is right to prompt us into proper consideration of what has previously been ignored.”—Imprints
“In his passionate and lucid argument about political theory after the holocaust, Geras explains his baleful titular concept: if you are unwilling to help others in their need, you cannot expect others to do the same for you. Therefore any political philosophy which neglects the primacy of human duty to bring aid is short-sighted and shameful.”—Guardian
“Some devote considerable time and money to combating moral catastrophes, but most of us hardly do more than lift a finger. Our behavior is the subject of Norman Geras’s thought-provoking new book ... Geras identifies a major gap in contemporary political philosophy.”—Times Literary Supplement
“The skill of Geras’s approach is to point to the wider implications of the Holocaust, while refusing to offer easy answers to the intractable questions it raises.”—New Statesman
Norman Geras is Professor of Government at the University of Manchester. His books include Solidarity in the Conversation of Humankind, Marx and Human Nature and The Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg.
A powerful work of moral and political philosophy.The idea which I shall present here came to me more or less out of the blue. I was on a train some five years ago, on my way to spend a day at Headingley and I was reading a book about the death camp at Sobibor... The particular, not very appropriate, conjunction involved for me in this train journey... had the effect of fixing my thoughts on one of the more dreadful features of human coexistence, when in the shape of a simple five-word phrase the idea occurred to me. In The Contract of Mutual Indifference, Norman Geras discusses a central aspect of the experience of the Holocaust with a view to exploring its most important contemporary implications. In a bold and powerful synthesis of memorial, literary record, historical reflection and political theory, he focuses on the figure of the bystander—the bystander to the destruction of the Jews of Europe and the bystander to more recent atrocities—to consider the moral consequences of looking on without active response at persecution and great suffering. Geras argues that the tragedy of European Jewry, so widely pondered by historians, social scientists, psychologists, theologians and others, has not yet found its proper reflection within political philosophy. Attempting to fill the gap, he adapts an old idea from within that tradition of enquiry, the idea of the social contract, to the task of thinking about the triangular relation between perpetrators, victims and bystanders, and draws a somber conclusion from it. Geras goes on to ask how far this conclusion may be offset by the hypothesis of a universal duty to bring aid. The Contract of Mutual Indifference is an original and challenging work, aimed at the complacent abstraction of much contemporary theory. It is supplemented by three shorter essays on the implications of the Jewish catastrophe for conceptions of human nature and progress and for certain types of Marxist explanation.
Reviews
“Geras’s is a remarkable book written with passion, compassion, and a genuine belief in the possibility of a better future. He is right to prompt us into proper consideration of what has previously been ignored.”—Imprints
“In his passionate and lucid argument about political theory after the holocaust, Geras explains his baleful titular concept: if you are unwilling to help others in their need, you cannot expect others to do the same for you. Therefore any political philosophy which neglects the primacy of human duty to bring aid is short-sighted and shameful.”—Guardian
“Some devote considerable time and money to combating moral catastrophes, but most of us hardly do more than lift a finger. Our behavior is the subject of Norman Geras’s thought-provoking new book ... Geras identifies a major gap in contemporary political philosophy.”—Times Literary Supplement
“The skill of Geras’s approach is to point to the wider implications of the Holocaust, while refusing to offer easy answers to the intractable questions it raises.”—New Statesman
Author
Norman Geras is Professor of Government at the University of Manchester. His books include Solidarity in the Conversation of Humankind, Marx and Human Nature and The Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg.
