Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg

Volume 20 Issue 1

Issue of Analyse & Kritik

Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available May 14, 2016

Milgram für Historiker

Reichweite und Grenzen einer Übertragung des Milgram-Experiments auf den Nationalsozialismus

Thomas Sandkühler, Hans-Walter Schmuhl

Page range: 3-26

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Abstract

Stanley Milgram was the first who tried to apply the results of his experiment on National Socialism. Historical science has hardly picked up on this subject with the exception of the American historian Christopher Browning. Despite of some serious problems which have occured by transferring the Milgram-experiment onto National Socialism we are convinced that the possibilities Milgram has opened up for contemporary history have not been exhausted yet. In this connection we would like to plead for a stronger distinction of types of perpetrators, taking into account the latest results in criminology. The Milgram-experiment refers methodically to local studies of massacres and genocides. Its application on the bureaucracy of destruction seems particularly promising to us. Also, there should be included the rescuers of jews into the research on perpetrators as a controlling body.

Publicly Available May 14, 2016

Freiwilligkeit der Gewalt?

Von der Psychologie der Täter zur Psychologie der Tat

Jeannette Schmid

Page range: 27-45

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Abstract

The series of psychological explanations for the atrocities of Hitler’s Germany followed a development that started with the personality of the perpetrators and subsequently focused on the situation, almost to the exclusion of the person component. Milgram’s experimental series marks a turning point. His construct of destructive obedience claims a validity that transcends the Nazi context and has far-reaching implications for human behavior in hierarchies, irrespective of the political system. The merits of his approach can be understood in comparison and in connection with other theoretical and empirical venues that each provide a unique insight into the mechanisms underlying the Holocaust.

Publicly Available May 14, 2016

The Roots of Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiments and Their Relevance to the Holocaust

Thomas Blass

Page range: 46-53

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Abstract

Drawing on archival materials, interviews, as well as published sources, this article traces the roots of one of the most important and controversial studies in the social sciences, the experiments on obedience to authority conducted by the social psychologist, Stanley Milgram. Milgram’s research had two determinants: First, his attempt to account for the Holocaust and, second, his intention to apply Solomon Asch’s technique for studying conformity to behavior of greater human consequence than judging lengths of lines-the task which was the original focus in Asch’s studies. After a detailed presentation of these antecedents of Milgram’s work, the article concludes with a brief discussion of the applicability of the obedience experiments to the behavior of the perpetrators of the Holocaust.

Publicly Available May 14, 2016

Were Obedience Pressures A Factor in the Holocaust?

Allan Fenigstein

Page range: 54-73

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Abstract

A number of scholars have suggested that Milgram’s laboratory studies of obedience offer an incisive analysis of the behavior of the Holocaust perpetrators. The present paper rejects that position. The contrasts between the two events, at every level of analysis, are striking: In Milgram’s research, innocent peers were harmed in the context of science; in the Holocaust, rabidly hated, subhuman enemies were murdered in the context of ‘war’. With regard to underlying psychological mechanisms, the evidence questioning the relevance of Milgram’s research is equally compelling: obedience pressures had little role in the Holocaust. Most of the Nazi perpetrators showed no remorse or moral distress over the murders and perhaps most critically, virtually all of the killers knew that they could choose not to participate in the killings.

Publicly Available May 14, 2016

The Obedience Alibi

Milgram ’s Account of the Holocaust Reconsidered

David R. Mandel

Page range: 74-94

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Abstract

Stanley Milgram’s work on obedience to authority is social psychology’s most influential contribution to theorizing about Holocaust perpetration. The gist of Milgram’s claims is that Holocaust perpetrators were just following orders out of a sense of obligation to their superiors. Milgram, however, never undertook a scholarly analysis of how his obedience experiments related to the Holocaust. The author first discusses the major theoretical limitations of Milgram’s position and then examines the implications of Milgram’s (oft-ignored) experimental manipulations for Holocaust theorizing, contrasting a specific case of Holocaust perpetration by Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police. It is concluded that Milgram’s empirical findings, in fact, do not support his position-one that essentially constitutes an obedience alibi. The article ends with a discussion of some of the social dangers of the obedience alibi.

Publicly Available May 14, 2016

„Dämonologie“ oder psychologisches Denken

Wie erklärt man, warum ganz gewöhnliche Angehörige der nationalsozialistischen Gesellschaft das Leben anderer auslöschten?

Alexander Kochinka, Jürgen Straub

Page range: 95-122

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Abstract

This article gives a survey of factors that could be relevant for the explanation of behaviour under the nazi-regime with reference to the study by Ch. Browning. Instead of causal explanations we suggest ‘how-possible explanations’. These explanations should make plausible how behaviour could come about taking into consideration intentional, normative and narrative aspects. Brutalization of the prepetrators, the psychological mechanism of distancing oneself, antisemitism, bureaucratization, carrierism, interest in power and conventionalist tendencies are discussed as relevant explanatory factors. Milgram’s analyses of obedience and group-conformity are brought into perspective within a wider-ranging culturalist approach.

Publicly Available May 14, 2016

Diskussion/Discussion. Morality and Society - The True and the Nasty

Reply to Anton Leist: “For Society - Against Morality?” (Analyse & Kritik 19, 213-228)

David Copp

Page range: 123-140

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Abstract

This paper is a reply to Anton Leist’s criticisms of the view I develop in my book, Morality, Normativity, and Society. Leist claims that my “standard-based” account of the truth conditions of moral propositions is incoherent. I argue that he is mistaken about this. Leist claims that my “society-centered” account of the justification of moral standards has “nasty” implications. In the course of answering this worry, I develop the idea of a “moral necessity”. My theory implies that although moral propositions are metaphysically contingent, they are most likely morally necessary. I also explain that, despite its relativism, the society-centered view is quite compatible with the idea that there are certain “moral universals”. Finally, Leist claims that the arguments I have given in favor of my view are unsuccessful. But it is a mistake to think that decisive arguments can be expected in this area. The most we can expect is a clear statement of the costs and benefits of a theory. I claim that my account of the nature and grounding of morality has important advantages over familiar alternatives.

About this journal

ANALYSE & KRITIK

is devoted to the fundamental issues of empirical and normative social theory
is directed at social scientists and social philosophers who combine commitment to political and moral enlightenment with argumentative rigour and conceptual clarity
develops social theorizing in connection with analytical philosophy and philosophy of science
promotes the dialogue between Anglo-American and Continental traditions in the social sciences and ethics
publishes articles in English