Hardback
Socratic Voices
Dialogues on Law, Time, and Reconciliation
9781803922379 Edward Elgar Publishing
In seven pioneering dialogues, Bert van Roermund resumes the conversations he has had over the last twenty-five years on reconciliation after political oppression. Questions of time are predominant here: How does memory relate to both past and future? Can one be a victim and perpetrator at the same time? Is reconciliation ultimately based on an original bond among humans that enables survivors to forgive their former oppressors? Does this entail a betrayal of past sufferings?
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contents
More Information
In seven pioneering dialogues, Bert van Roermund resumes the conversations he has had over the last twenty-five years on reconciliation after political oppression. Questions of time are predominant here: How does memory relate to both past and future? Can one be a victim and perpetrator at the same time? Is reconciliation ultimately based on an original bond among humans that enables survivors to forgive their former oppressors? Does this entail a betrayal of past sufferings?
Such questions are discussed in this book by a group of philosophers from (former) conflict areas around the globe. Both the characters and the dialogues are fictional, but at the same time, they are as real as can be. They originate in conversations with many colleagues and intensive research within an international network of scholars, writers, artists, and political activists. Chapters provide philosophical discussions on the highly relevant topic of law, time, and reconciliation.
The book reaches out to all those who wish to reflect on the challenges of peace work, restorative and transitional justice, refugee policies and military interventions, as well as students and teachers of relevant disciplines including social ethics, political philosophy, human rights and international relations.
Such questions are discussed in this book by a group of philosophers from (former) conflict areas around the globe. Both the characters and the dialogues are fictional, but at the same time, they are as real as can be. They originate in conversations with many colleagues and intensive research within an international network of scholars, writers, artists, and political activists. Chapters provide philosophical discussions on the highly relevant topic of law, time, and reconciliation.
The book reaches out to all those who wish to reflect on the challenges of peace work, restorative and transitional justice, refugee policies and military interventions, as well as students and teachers of relevant disciplines including social ethics, political philosophy, human rights and international relations.
Critical Acclaim
‘Socratic Voices is certainly a book that deserves the attention of anyone interested in understanding the complex mechanisms governing the behaviour of individuals and entire communities struggling with the burdens of the past. It will be useful to all of those involved in the design and implementation of reconciliation law and policy, as well as to those who remain at the heart of these processes as researchers, dissidents, parties to conflicts, perpetrators, or victims.’
– Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias, Journal of Law and Society
‘A book like no other. Steeped in wisdom – philosophical, practical, personal – it takes the reader on a Socratic journey into the most difficult of problems facing individuals, societies, and humanity as a whole: how to reconcile over a common future in the aftermath of conflict.’
– Kjersti Lohne, University of Oslo, Norway
‘Bert van Roermund channels his inner Socrates into a wide-ranging series of dialogues on the nature of justice and reconciliation in the aftermath of violence, war and atrocity. Van Roermund steers well clear of offering any trite and easy answers. Each of the lifelike conversations illuminates and the Socratic voices illustrate the pivotal importance of the process of thinking together on such subjects. In a time of echo chambers and moral grandstanding van Roermund''s work offers some welcome and much needed antidote.’
– Antony Pemberton, Leuven Institute of Criminology, Belgium
– Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias, Journal of Law and Society
‘A book like no other. Steeped in wisdom – philosophical, practical, personal – it takes the reader on a Socratic journey into the most difficult of problems facing individuals, societies, and humanity as a whole: how to reconcile over a common future in the aftermath of conflict.’
– Kjersti Lohne, University of Oslo, Norway
‘Bert van Roermund channels his inner Socrates into a wide-ranging series of dialogues on the nature of justice and reconciliation in the aftermath of violence, war and atrocity. Van Roermund steers well clear of offering any trite and easy answers. Each of the lifelike conversations illuminates and the Socratic voices illustrate the pivotal importance of the process of thinking together on such subjects. In a time of echo chambers and moral grandstanding van Roermund''s work offers some welcome and much needed antidote.’
– Antony Pemberton, Leuven Institute of Criminology, Belgium
Contents
Contents: Participants Prologue: A letter from Socrates. Dialogue 1 Stages and sequences? Dialogue 2 Never again Dialogue 3 Restoring what has never been Dialogue 4 Dissimultaneity Dialogue 5 Simultaneity Dialogue 6 Time before time Dialogue 7 Time beyond time Epilogue Postscript and acknowledgements References Index
