Taking Responsibility for the Past: Reparation and Historical Injustice [Paperback]

Janna Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2003

Injustices of the past cast a shadow on the present. They are the root cause of much harm, the source of enmity, and increasingly in recent times, the focus of demands for reparation. In this groundbreaking philosophical investigation, Janna Thompson examines the problems raised by reparative demands and puts forward a theory of reparation for historical injustices.


The book argues that the problems posed by historical injustices are best resolved by a reconciliatory view of reparative justice and an approach that explains how people acquire intergenerational responsibilities and entitlements. It ranges in its subject matter from the claims of indigenous people to land stolen from their ancestors to the growing movement for reparations for slavery. The book provides an original and convincing answer to the questions of how citizens can have reparative responsibilities for wrongs committed before they were born, and why descendants of victims may be entitled to compensation for historical injustices such as slavery. It also explains how members of nations can make recompense for injustices of the past without ignoring the inequities of the present.Taking Responsibility for the Past is a significant contribution to philosophical and legal debates about reparative justice, and at the same time an accessible and thought-provoking book for general readers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Janna Thompson provides a sophisticated and parsimonious theory of reparative justice" Andrew Schapp, University of Melbourne

"Her treatment of reparative justice is superb in all respects. The writing is lucid and elegant, the reliance on relevant scholarship is balanced and informative, the argument is coherent and sustained from start to finish. In short, Janna Thompson has written a truly indispensable book that cannot be ignored by anyone interested in the broad theme of justice in human affairs." Richard Falk, Visiting Distinguished Professor, University of California at Santa Barbara

"In this challenging and compelling book, Janna Thompson seeks to tread a careful path between the conflicting claims for reparation and to defend a theory of restorative justice. I found it a thorough, stimulating and well-argued defence of an important theory in applied ethics and political theory. It is scholarly and accessible and should attract much attention." Paul Kelly, Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science

From the Back Cover

Injustices of the past cast a shadow on the present. They are the root cause of much harm, the source of enmity, and increasingly in recent times, the focus of demands for reparation. In this groundbreaking philosophical investigation, Janna Thompson examines the problems raised by reparative demands and puts forward a theory of reparation for historical injustices.

The book argues that the problems posed by historical injustices are best resolved by a reconciliatory view of reparative justice and an approach that explains how people acquire intergenerational responsibilities and entitlements. It ranges in its subject matter from the claims of indigenous people to land stolen from their ancestors to the growing movement for reparations for slavery. The book provides an original and convincing answer to the questions of how citizens can have reparative responsibilities for wrongs committed before they were born, and why descendants of victims may be entitled to compensation for historical injustices such as slavery. It also explains how members of nations can make recompense for injustices of the past without ignoring the inequities of the present.Taking Responsibility for the Past is a significant contribution to philosophical and legal debates about reparative justice, and at the same time an accessible and thought-provoking book for general readers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Polity; 1 edition (January 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745628850
• ISBN-13: 978-0745628851
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historicising Rawls, December 19, 2003

By 

Andrew Schaap (The University of Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taking Responsibility for the Past: Reparation and Historical Injustice (Hardcover)

Janna Thompson provides a sophisticated and parsimonious theory of reparative justice. This is situated in relation to a more extensive theory of justice, according to which reparative claims based on past injustices must be balanced against claims of equity based on present circumstances. Taking the reparative claims of indigenous peoples and black Americans as paradigmatic examples, the author examines: why historical obligations and entitlements exist; what we are obliged to do about past wrongs, and; when claims for reparation are superseded by historical change. The answers to all of these questions are carefully developed from a central argument. Namely, that `our life-time transcending concerns as citizens, members of families or individuals give us a moral reason for maintaining a practice of keeping the commitments of our predecessors and repairing the wrongs they have done'. As such, our past-referring obligations and entitlements are derived from our future-oriented moral expectations.

This `diachronic' theory of justice, which emphasises the moral significance of transgenerational relationships, furnishes a persuasive account of why citizens have a collective responsibility for wrongs perpetrated by their predecessors. At the same time, it avoids some of the difficulties that other approaches lead to: it does not presuppose a duty to the dead; it does not require that we feel shame for wrongs perpetrated by our ancestors, and; it does not make responsibility depend on ancestry. Moreover, it draws out the historical dimension of Rawls' theory of justice, which allows us to differentiate more adequately particular claims for reparation based on past wrongs from universal claims to redress present inequalities. As a study in analytic moral philosophy, which is nonetheless sensitive to the political dilemmas that surround claims for reparation, the book makes a timely and original contribution to contemporary debates about multiculturalism, distributive justice, reconciliation and transitional justice.

1 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars the past, February 27, 2003

By 

Beloved Infidel "Toby" (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taking Responsibility for the Past: Reparation and Historical Injustice (Paperback)

Reparations will never make up for the past..what it will do is create an ugly world of charges and counter-charges! Will Black Americans blame to blame their fellow Africans, as well as Arab slave traders for creating a culture of slavery (remember that slavery is an African tradition). Will the families of White-Americans sue the families of Blacks for the crimes perpatrated on them? Reaprations will not solve anything, wont make test scores go up or create so-caled equality. In fact reparations will increase racism and I, for one, will join that ism...