Thursday, September 24, 2009

Karl Jaspers on the concept of metaphysical guilt:

"There exists among men, because they are men, a solidarity through which each shares responsibility for every injustice and every wrong committed in the world, and especially for crimes that are committed in his presence or of which he cannot be ignorant. If I do not do whatever I can to prevent them, I am an accomplice in them. If I have not risked my life in order to prevent the murder of other men, if I have stood silent, I feel guilty in a sense that cannot in any adequate fashion be understood juridically, or politically, or morally...That I am still alive after such things have been done weighs on me as a guilt that cannot be expiated.

Somewhere in the heart of human relations an absolute command imposes itself: In case of criminal attack or of living conditions that threaten physical being, accept life only for all together, otherwise not at all."

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Book Review

Here's my review of What is the What: A Novel by Valentino Achak Deng and Dave Eggers.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Book Review

Here's my review of Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Book Review

Here's my review of Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005 by James T. Campbell.