Abstract
In relation to three cases of recent claims for rectificatory justice after colonialism; the Caribbean nations’ claims for rectification after slavery and the slave trade, claims of former Mau Mau adherents for rectification for atrocities during the British colonial war in the 1950s and the restitution of African art in French museums, Collste defines the concept of rectificatory justice and discusses pertinent ethical questions raised by the claims for historical justice. Among them are the moral reasons for rectification, the implications of past injustices for present claims for justice, and whether intentions to harm in the past is a necessary requirement for a present duty to rectify. Finally, Collste suggests how historical justice can be taught in school and its importance for historical consciousness.
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Notes
- 1.
In the discussion on historical justice the terminology varies and the terms “rectificatory justice”, “corrective justice”, “compensatory justice”, “reparative justice” and “restorative justice” are used. In this chapter, I use the term “rectificatory justice”.
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Collste, G. (2021). Ethics and Historical Justice. In: Keynes, M., Åström Elmersjö, H., Lindmark, D., Norlin, B. (eds) Historical Justice and History Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70412-4_10
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