PHL 271 Perspectives on Evil and the Holocaust

3.0 Credit(s) CS PGR

Focusing on the Holocaust as a case study, the course will explore the mentality of those who designed and carried out the “final solution” as well as those complicit with them. The genocide of over six million Jews and other Holocaust victims raises profound questions about the human capacity for evil, the causes and means of dehumanization, the limits of obedience to authority and the potential of universal human rights legislation. The course discusses what the Holocaust can teach us about: 1) the psychological factors motivating and facilitating dehumanization and genocide; 2) the means of deterring and sanctioning those who commit racially motivated criminal acts; 3) ways to promote objective truth in historical research about the Holocaust, in light of the “revisionist” historiography of Holocaust deniers; and 4) the role of ethics in defining our interpersonal obligations and humanizing our relationships with others. Three lecture hours per week. Not open to students who have earned credit for CRJ 271.