Dignity, Justice, and the Nazi Data Debate: On Violating the Violated Anew

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In this work, Carol V.A. Quinn (re)constructs the survivors arguments in the debate concerning the ethics of using Nazi medical data, showing what it would mean to take their claims seriously. She begins with a historical case and presents arguments that help make sense of the following claims: 1) Using the data harms the survivors by violating their dignity; 2) The survivors are the living data, and so when we use the data we use them; 3) The data is really, not merely symbolically, evil and we become morally tainted when we engage it; and 4) The survivors are the real moral experts in this debate, and so we should take seriously what they say. Quinns approach is interdisciplinary, incorporating philosophy, psychology, trauma research, survivors testimony, Holocaust poetry, literature, and the Hebrew Bible.

Reviews

Quinns book is a powerful reminder of the need to take survivors accounts as ones point of departure. It helps renew our attention to ongoing harms and injustices that many have ignored or forgotten, and reminds us that we must never accept as a foregone conclusion the contention that the voices of the victims cannot be heard and acted upon. * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *
With great sensitivity but also moral passion and thoughtful research, Carol Quinn demands that we think more deeply about dignity and humanity. Her study of Nazi victims is highly original, examining cruelty, but also resilience, and her book challenges us to imbue our approach to the world with greater empathy. -- Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College
Carol V. A. Quinns Dignity, Justice, and the Nazi Data Debate is a thoroughly researched, well-argued study of the ethical issues surrounding the use of data from Nazi medical experiments and other survivor experiences of the Holocaust. Quinn puts a human face to the human beings subjected to this trauma, among both the survivors and the ensuing generations. In this articulate investigation Quinn imposes a human dignity upon a dehumanizing notion of mere data by showing why the data matter. Her sense of ethical urgency is much needed in a time when good and evil have been relativized into nothing more than this narrative or that. Indeed, reading this book is itself an ethical imperative. -- David Patterson, University of Texas at Dallas

Author Bio

Carol V. A. Quinn is professor of philosophy at Metropolitan State University of Denver.