Humanity: A moral history of the twentieth century
New Haven, 2001
Abstract
This important book confronts the brutal history of the 20th century to unravel the psychological mystery of why so many atrocities occurred–the Holocaust, Hiroshima, the Gulag, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and others–and how we can prevent their reoccurrence.
Quotes from this work
Amoralits are sceptics about the claims of morality. They do not have to be ruthlessly selfish—they may have generous impulses and care about other people—but they are sceptical about claims that they ought to do things for others. An amoralist says about ‘ought’ what Oscar Wilde said about ‘patriotism’: it is not one of my words. The generous, caring amoralist is in practice not much of a problem. It is the ruthlessly selfish amoralist who arouses the hope that amoralism can be refuted.