God, Reason, and Evil (RS 3D03)
Winter 2003

TAKE-HOME QUIZ 5 - Assignment due in class March 19

Please read the following selections:

• Andrew Altman, Arguing About Law. An Introduction to Legal Philosophy (1996): "Judgment at Nuremberg," 23-29 [copy on reserve / included in coursepack]
• Howard Ball, Prosecuting War Crimes and Genocide (1999), chap. 2: "World War II in Europe and the Nuremberg Tribunal," esp. 44-61 [book on reserve; included in coursepack]
• Nuremberg Trial Proceedings: Charter of the International Military Tribunal (on the Avalon Project website at Yale Law School)
• Lawrence Douglas, The Memory of Judgment. Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust (2001), chap 2: "The Idiom of Judgment: Crimes Against Humanity" [book on reserve;  included in coursepack]

As Altman points out, disagreements about whether the Nuremberg Trial was justified can be framed in terms of the conflicting demands of legality and morality (Altman, 28-29).  Drawing on material from the Altman, Ball, and Douglas readings (i.e., from all three texts), lay out some of the important claims that have been made about the trial that appeal to the need to uphold legality.  Then give a similar sampling of important claims that have been made about the trial that appeal to the demands of morality.   

As for past quizzes, you needn't aim for definitive answers but a preliminary, thoughtful response based on close attention to the text.  (Be sure to substantiate your presentation with detailed references.) Your answer may also include 1-2 important questions raised by your reading for further discussion.

Please use parenthetical page references for your quotations and citations.   

Please type and double-space your answer, and number and staple the pages you hand in. 

posted March 14,  2003