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A philosophical investigation of dealing with guilt and its impact on democracy
Drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno, this book illustrates the relevance and applicability of a political discussion of guilt and democracy. It appropriates psychoanalytic theory to analyse court documents of Austrian Nazi perpetrators as well as recent public controversies surrounding Austria's involvement in the Nazi atrocities and ponders how the former agents of Hitlerite crimes and contemporary Austrians have dealt with their guilt. Exposing the defensive mechanisms that have been used to evade facing involvement in Nazi atrocities, Leeb considers the possibilities of breaking the cycle of negative consequences that result from the inability to deal with guilt. Leeb shows us that only by guilt can individuals and nations take responsibility for their past crimes, show solidarity with the victims of crimes, and prevent the emergence of new crimes.
Claudia Leeb is Assistant Professor in political theory at Washington State University. She is the author of Power and Feminist Agency in Capitalism (2017), Working-Class Women in Elite Academia (2004), and Die Zerstörung des Mythos von der Friedfertigen Frau (1998).
Cover image: Von der Liste Gestrichen, 1933, Paul Klee © akg-images
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edinburghuniversitypress.com
ISBN 978-1-4744-1324-4
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List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Rethinking Embodied Reflective Judgment with Adorno and Arendt; 3. "Ich fühle mich nicht schuldig (I do not feel guilty)": From Doubts to Murder; 4. Roma and Sinti as Homo Sacer; 5. Defense of Repressed Guilt: The Staging of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz; 6. An Austrian Haus der Geschichte? The Drama Continues; 7. Conclusion: Towards a Politics of Guilt Feeling; 8. References.
About the author
Claudia Leeb is Assistant Professor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at Washington State University.
Summary
Drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno, Claudia Leeb discussesguilt and democracy in the case of Austrian Nazi perpetrators and recent public controversies surrounding Austria's involvement in the Nazi atrocities. She shows us that only by guilt can individuals and nations take responsibility for their past crimes.
