How should we remember and commemorate those who die in war? What about the enemy dead? Cecile Fabre discusses this issue with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.
This is philosophy bites with me, Nigel.
Warburton, and me, David Edmonds.
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How should we commemorate those who died in warfare?
Ought we to pay respect just to the soldiers killed on our side or to enemy soldiers too?
And what of civilian casualties on both sides?
All these issues tend to arouse powerful emotions.
Cecil Faab of All Souls College, Oxford, has been reflecting upon the connection between war and remembrance.
Cecil Fabre, welcome to philosophy bites.
Thank you.
The topic we're going to focus on today is remembrance, specifically remembrance in war.
Let's just at the beginning clear what remembrance is.
So when I talk about remembrance in the context of war, I have in mind very simply practices such as the ceremony at the Cenotaph in London every year on Remembrance Sunday, or the custom of standing still for a two minute silence at 11:00 in the morning on the 11 November.
Certainly in this country, the UK, but in other countries as well.
Presumably you also want to include the memorials, the physical objects, the stone memorials that are built.
Yes, I do.
So that's a very interesting dimension of remembrance.
The memorials which we built, the plaques which we put on buildings to commemorate the fact that this particular event or atrocity took place on this particular date.
But I also have in mind things like preserving historical monuments, so making sure, for example, that Auschwitz remains standing and doesn't crumble under the weight of time.