RSE Gifford Seminar | Heroism for a time of victims | In-person

The Royal Society of Edinburgh

The RSE Gifford Seminar in association with Professor Susan Neiman’s Gifford Lectureship Series at the University of Edinburgh 2022

Rainy Hall, University of Edinburgh

This year, Professor Susan Neiman’s Gifford Lecture series is on Heroism for a time of victims.The seminar will allow audience members to explore questions relating to the larger themes of the series, including the importance of human moral agency and heroic resistance to injustice and tyranny; this is especially important with the current crisis in Ukraine.Chairperson: Professor Stephen Reicher FRSE, Bishop Wardlaw Professor, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St AndrewsSpeakers: Professor Susan Neiman, Gifford Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, for 2021-22 and Director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam, GermanyDr Hannah Holtschneider, Senior Lecturer in Jewish Studies, University of EdinburghProfessor Alvin Jackson FRSE, Richard Lodge Professor of History, University of EdinburghPlease note that this is a hybrid event. You can book an online ticket here: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rse-gifford-seminar-online-tickets-328815454877?aff=OnlineEB">www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rse-gifford-seminar-online-tickets-328815454877?</a><h3>Series summary</h3>As yesterday’s heroes are toppled from pedestals, it is time to consider who tomorrow’s heroes should be. One obstacle to that task is so deep and widespread that we have rarely perceived its importance: the object of history has undergone a radical shift in the past half-century. Whether in history and literature, whether examining the works of peasants or princes, earlier writers sought heroes. Today, heroes make us nervous. The desire to shift our focus to victims of history began in demands for justice. Earlier accounts let victims die a double death: once in the flesh, once again in memory. To insist that victims' stories be part of historical record was just a matter of righting old wrongs. If victims' stories have claims on our attention, they have claims on our sympathy, our systems of justice, our bank accounts. As an alternative to older world-views in which victims are voiceless, it's a definite step towards progress. Yet something went wrong when we rewrote the place of the victim, and the impulse which began in generosity can turn downright perverse. Professor Neiman proposes we return to an older model, where your claims to legitimacy are focused on what you've done to the world, not what the world did to you. This wouldn't return to the victims to the ash-heap of history, but it would bring the hero back to centreer stage. One of the first heroic virtues is generosity, as well as a certain humility that recognizes the role contingency plays in our lives. (There but for fortune could any of us go.) These should allow us to honour caring for victims as a virtue - without suggesting that being a victim is one as well.<h3>Gifford lectures</h3><a href="https://www.giffordlectures.org/lectures" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">www.giffordlectures.org/lectures</a><a href="https://www.giffordlectures.org/lectures" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"></a>

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RSE Gifford Seminar | Heroism for a time of victims | In-person

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