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OliviaB discovered this in Books
•6 reviews since Aug 27, 2006
books, ethics, literature
•books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1854989...
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OliviaB discovered 23 months ago- thanks to the SU's zingy zaxy and artist judy arndt for the chilly bud text under bud all from the link At last, someone who understands the inherent grandiosity of moralists and the intrinsic humility of ethics. Thank you John Berger for your take on the controversy over Nobel winning writer Gunter Grass and his apparently unpalatable personal past. To borrow from the movie reviewers, if you read one article today, make it this one. The denial of true reflection Modern moralists live in an experience vacuum; Günter Grass's idea of honour is beyond them Without ethics man has no future. This is to say mankind without them cannot be itself. Ethics determine choices and actions and suggest difficult priorities. They have nothing to do, however, with judging the actions of others. Such judgments are the prerogative of (often self-proclaimed) moralists. In ethics there is a humility; moralists are usually righteous. These thoughts come to my mind as I read the macabre denunciations being levelled today against Günter Grass. About him as a man and about his great work as a writer, they totally miss the point, and might be dismissed as laughable, but, as an index of a certain recent moral climate in Europe, they are troubling. They are an example of moral judgments made in a carefully constructed vacuum of experience. They are what is left after the emptying out of lived experience, and they are a strident denial of what we know in our bones to be real."
- justafrog rated 21 months ago
- John Berger Monday August 21, 2006 The Guardian
The denial of true reflection
Modern moralists live in an experience vacuum; Günter Grass's idea of honour is beyond them
Günter Grass
'Günter Grass has lived through his mistakes, better than most of us would have done.' Without ethics man has no future. This is to say mankind without them cannot be itself. Ethics determine choices and actions and suggest difficult priorities. They have nothing to do, however, with judging the actions of others. Such judgments are the prerogative of (often self-proclaimed) moralists. In ethics there is a humility; moralists are usually righteous. - John Berger Monday August 21, 2006 The Guardian
- KingBoy rated 23 months ago
- John Berger defends Günter Grass over the latter's recent admission of youthful involvement in the SS. Though there has admittedly been a lot of self-righteous & vituperative guff written about Grass's revelation, Berger's points are disappointingly unsound and quite pompous. Ethical issues such as this are almost invariably more complex than they are commonly presumed. Case in point: Berger's conceptual triangle, described here (without a trace of irony) "for clarity's sake", is simplistic, meaningless and laughably daft. Of more value are the few genuinely even-handed comments among the reader contributions at the end. Thanks Olivia for sending this on.
- Anitra rated 23 months ago
- The Denial of True Reflection John Berger writes a thoughtful defense of Gunter Grass. It is true that we all judge others, as well as ourselves. Any time you say, "This is right... This is wrong," you are judging others as well as yourself. John Berger's contrast of ethics and morality as humbly judging one's own actions versus sitting in grandiose judgment of everyone else is therefore wrong -- wrong in the way that saying "Everyone who was once a member of the Nazi party or the Communist party is a totalitarian; no-one who opposes Fascism and Communism is a totalitarian." Categorical statements are categorically wrong. We cannot learn the lessons of Germany's seduction by Fascism by simply condemning anyone who fell to it (for however brief a time). We can learn only by seeing what we have in common with them. The novels of Gunter Grass give us that opportunity; so does his confession that, at 17, he was one of those seduced. Demonizing Grass now is not making use of the opportunity for true reflection that he offers us. To understand is not to excuse. To understand is to be able to change -- and that should be the ultimate objective of both ethics and morality: to live a more ethical, moral life; to be a more ethical, moral society.
- laodan rated 23 months ago
This is a beautifull title that perfectly describes the senseless moralism of so many chamber thinkers... But have they really looked inside their real selves? Have their own attitrudes and actions always been so ethical? I don't think so.
In summary here is a great article that everyone interested to understand the difference between moralism and ethical behavior should readThe denial of true reflection via 3QuarksDaily, in the Gjuardian by John Berger Modern moralists live in an experience vacuum; Günter Grass's idea of honour is beyond them
URL: The denial of true reflection
