Nigel Pleasants

I am a philosopher with strong interest in what I call ‘institutional wrongdoing’ (Pleasants 2008), in both its historical and contemporaneous dimensions. The Holocaust in particular, and genocide more generally, are paramount cases of this distinctively modern phenomenon. As a philosopher, I explore questions, puzzles and issues that inevitably and inescapably arise in historical, social scientific, and theological scholarship on the Holocaust and genocide. I aim to identify and bring (as much as is possible) philosophical clarity to these issues – both to inform and engage with interested philosophical audiences, and to take these questions, puzzles and issues further than historians, social scientists and theologians themselves are able to do. Overall, I endeavour to develop a distinctive philosophically reflective perspective that complements the knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust and genocide generated by other disciplines. My inquiries began with an article on ‘the concept of learning from the study of the Holocaust’ (Pleasants 2004), where I explored the difficulties in addressing the central ‘How could they?’ question that we instinctively need to address to the perpetrators. I went on to explore the vexed question of whether, and if so how, the Holocaust might be a unique transhistorical event (Pleasants 2016). I have also grappled with how to think about and assess the moral responsibility of the perpetrators in the light of our best knowledge, theories and explanations of who they were, what they did  and how they acted (Pleasants 2018; Pleasants 2021). I have taught an interdisciplinary undergraduate course called The Holocaust, Genocide and Society for 20+ years.

Email: n.j.pleasants@exeter.ac.uk