Establishing 'truth-commissions" in order to deal with the problematic past has become a kind of "democratic ritual" in societies emerging out of totalitarian regimes. What are the canonical works dealing with this subject (if there are any canonical works at all)?
Dear Mr. Seymour,
thank you for your references, I'll take a look at each of them.
I'm more interested in the legitimacy of establishing a truth commission. Can truth be established by decree (judicial or political)? Isn't this way of fixing historical truth violating the scientific principle of fallibility and the open-ended nature of research? Usually, the conclusions of the report are already given, and the commission just has to confirm these a priori conclusions. Isn't this a doubtful way of doing research? My feeling is that the "truth" settled by the truth-commissions is rather a politically correct one. Also, I think that the report of the truth commission is a memorial document, and not a historical one (in the sense of respecting the methodological standards, research protocols, and emotional detachment of historical research).
Trudy Govier has done some good work in this area. Her most recent is "Taking Wrongs Seriously". But also see "Dilemmas of Reconciliation" and "Forgiveness and revenge"
Look at “Reconciliation as a Political Value,” Journal of Social Philosophy, 38:2, 2007, 205-221.
May also look at Deborah Posel's article on Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission included in the volume on Keywords: Truth edited by Nadia Tazi. Also, the movie "Red Dust" (2004) directed by Tom Hooper is a good portrayal of the TRC of South Africa.
Berber Bevernage History, memory, and state-sponsored violence : time and justice. Routledge 2012. Also see the INT network
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