Historical Redress

This title provides an introduction to the philosophical implications of the recent surge of political and ethical interest in historical redress. Should the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles to Greece? Should settler societies in North America and Australasia compensate the aboriginal people whom they dispossessed? Should Israel have accepted Germany's compensation for Nazi extermination policies? The last twenty years have seen a remarkable surge of political and ethical interest in historical redress - that is, the righting of old wrongs. In this fascinating book, Richard Vernon argues that whatever the kind of redress that's at issue, and whether the wrong is large or small, an important philosophical issue arises. Exploring recent and high profile cases, Vernon focuses on the issue of responsibility. Responsibility isn't something inherited, like property or one's DNA. How, then, can it fall to one generation to make good the wrongs done by another?The book addresses all the main issues and arguments relating to justice, memory, apology and citizenship, and concludes by arguing for a forward-looking approach that focuses on the right of future generations to live just lives. "Think Now" is a new series of books which examines central contemporary social and political issues from a philosophical perspective. These books aim to be accessible, rather than overly technical, bringing philosophical rigour to modern questions which matter the most to us. Provocative yet engaging, the authors take a stand on political and cultural themes of interest to any intelligent reader.

‘In Historical Redress: Must We Pay for the Past? Richard Vernon provides a thorough, critical and thought-provoking examination of the answers that philosophers have given to this question. His book both informs and engages non-specialist readers and challenges the present preoccupation with historical justice and memory.'

Richard Vernon is Distinguished University Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. His previous publications include Citizenship and Order: Studies in French Political Thought (University of Toronto Press, 1986), The Career of Toleration: John Locke, Jonas Proast, and After (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1997), Political Morality: A Theory of Liberal Democracy (Continuum, 2001) and Cosmopolitan Regard: Political Membership and Global Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2010).