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The Open University

The ethics of cultural heritage

The Open University via OpenLearn

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This free course, The ethics of cultural heritage, will provide the basic theory behind the protection of cultural property in war zones. It is structured in three parts: the protection of cultural property; the legal basis for that protection; and accounts of proportionality (that is, on deciding whether or not there is a feasible alternative to damaging cultural property). It explores some of the most pressing ethical questions surrounding the treatment of cultural heritage.Transcript

Syllabus

  • Introduction
  • Introduction
  • Learning outcomes
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week1Week 1: Notre-Dame and the ethics of heritage preservation
  • Introduction
  • Learning outcomes
  • 1 Notre-Dame Cathedral
  • 1.1 The Notre-Dame fire
  • 1.2 The day after the fire
  • 1.3 Response to the fire
  • 1.4 Charitable donations to the restoration project
  • 2 The debate about rebuilding Notre-Dame
  • 2.1 The ‘It’s my money’ response (part 1)
  • 2.2 The ‘It’s my money’ response (part 2)
  • The French government
  • 2.3 The economic justification for rebuilding
  • 2.4 The heritage value justification for rebuilding
  • 2.5 Can heritage values outweigh the value of human lives?
  • 3 This week’s quiz
  • 4 Week 1 summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week2Week 2: Cultural heritage in war
  • Introduction
  • Learning outcomes
  • 1 Introduction to the basic dilemma in war
  • 2 Monte Cassino Abbey
  • 2.1 The destruction of Monte Cassino
  • 3 The Hague Convention (1954)
  • 3.1 Applying Hague Convention Guidelines
  • 3.2 The Hague Convention in practice
  • 4 Arguments for and against protecting cultural property in war
  • 4.1 The humanitarian position
  • 4.2 The force-multiplier argument
  • 4.3 The heritage value justification (again)
  • 5 This week’s quiz
  • 6 Week 2 summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week3Week 3: Weighing heritage against lives
  • Introduction
  • Learning outcomes
  • 1 The inseparability thesis
  • 1.1 The evidential reading
  • Problems with the evidential reading
  • 1.2 The strategic reading
  • Problems with the strategic reading
  • 1.3 The constitutive reading
  • The value of a flourishing life
  • 1.4 The constitutive reading (continued)
  • 1.5 Problems with the constitutive reading
  • 1.6 Section conclusion
  • 2 Difficulties weighing the values of heritage and human lives
  • 2.1 Incommensurable values
  • 2.2 Incomparable values
  • 2.3 The aggregation problem
  • 2.4 Cultural heritage and the aggregation problem
  • 3 This week’s quiz
  • 4 Week 3 summary
  • End-of-course summary
  • Where next?
  • References
  • Acknowledgements

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5 rating at OpenLearn based on 2 ratings

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