Columbia University Press In the Name of Humanity – Reflections on the Twentieth Century (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism)

Product Description The notion that all the world's peoples constitute a "brotherhood of man" is not a given among all human beings-it is rather the product of history. So suggests acclaimed philosopher Alain Finkielkraut in In the Name of Humanity, an unsettling reflection on the twentieth century in its twilight hours in which he asks us to rethink our assumptions about universalism and humanism. While many people look to humanist ideals as a deterrent to nationalist chauvinism, Finkielkraut challenges the abstract idea of universalism by describing the terrible crimes "civilized" Europe has committed in its name. At the same time as it challenges the inhumanity of our century's great universalistic solutions, In the Name of Humanity also confronts the more onerous elements of unreflective nationalism-clearly condemning the dangerous use of claims for ethnic purity. However, the book does not put forth a standard-issue polemic against the multitude of nationalistic currents that continue to plague the international arena. Indeed, even as he deplores the violence that seems to go hand in hand with nationalism, Finkielkraut defends its underlying cause-the need to belong. Eloquently quoting the experiences of refugees from Hitler's Germany, he shows the reader why we must heed the call of this irreducible need. Finkielkraut reminds us that the concept of cultural relativism-indeed, the very idea of tolerating other cultures-is a relatively recent development in Western history. As he looks for answers he interrogates the differences between historical racism and the racism embedded in the philosophies of this century's genocidal movements, showing how modern racist ideologies like National Socialism look not to sin within the self as the stumbling block of human advancement but to a clandestine conspiracy by a particular, identifiable element of human society. What this form of radical racist thought eliminates is the notion of personal responsibility-instead of finding the answers to misfortune within the self, modern racism suggests that evil can be identified in others and summarily eliminated. Lucidly connected to the ideas of past thinkers, from Plato to Levinas to Hannah Arendt, Finkielkraut's latest work is a troubling indictment of our century that refuses to back away from the "messiness" of human life and culture. In his willingness to abjure simple solutions, he offers a glimmer of hope. Review Finkielkraut musters three millenia of thinkers to grapple with a century of horrors and somehow his account lifts our spirits and helps us find some measure of renewal.--Richard Weisberg Finkielkraut writes with great skill... often poetic and moving... a significant book.--Brian C. Anderson "First Things " To approach these fundamental questions in Finkielkraut's way, which is argumentative, honest, and yet indirect and evocative, you have to write well....Finkielkraut writes very well, elegantly and yet clearly.--Adam Morton "TLS " From the Back Cover In the Name of Humanity is a stark, provocative reflection on the history of humanism and the relationship of this philosophical tradition to the rise of totalitarianism in the twentieth century. Alain Finkielkraut begins by reviewing the famous debates about what makes man human, tracing the arguments back to Plato and Aristotle. He then juxtaposes the works of key European philosophers with memoirs and novels of war and degradation. Finkielkraut maintains that one can no longer express unqualified enthusiasm for the Enlightenment idea of universal man, something that he himself had done in earlier works. Echoing Hannah Arendt, he now asks, as she did in The Origins of Totalitarianism: How was it possible for a great philosophical tradition, celebrated for affirming the unity of mankind, to end up inspiring a political system of such dehumanizing proportions? In order to grasp the magnitude of the question, Finkielkraut contrasts eyewitness ac