The Good, the Bad, and the Nonidentity Problem

Abstract

Individuals often feel moral indignation, resentment, and regret, regarding wrongs committed towards their collective in the past. However, there are good reasons to be skeptical about such beliefs and sentiments or, at least, to see them as more problematic than normally thought. Building upon my previous work, particularly concerning “Fortunate Misfortune” and the implications of the “Nonidentity Problem” for history, I consider some of the associated difficulties. I focus upon the Jewish case; which seems to express the difficulties in a particularly acute way.