Postwar ruin and atrocity discredited belief in fixed human nature

Evidence

It’s a bracing thought, and was an attractive one in 1945, when established social and political institutions had been undermined by the war. In France and elsewhere, many had good reason to forget the recent past and its moral compromises and horrors, in order to focus on new beginnings. But there were deeper reasons to seek renewal. Sartre’s audience heard his message at a time when much of Europe lay in ruins, news of Nazi death camps had emerged, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been destroyed by atom bombs. The war had made people realise that they and their fellow humans were capable of departing entirely from civilised norms; no wonder the idea of a fixed human nature seemed questionable. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 40

Categorization

• XREF: Situates existentialism’s 1945 appeal as a response to the collapse of fixed-essence assumptions — resonating with discussions of postwar moral reconstruction elsewhere. — connects to: Belief in a fixed human nature rests on a tragic fallacy. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1023; Some postwar thinkers hoped catastrophe would transform human life for good — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 764; Beliefs about human nature shape moral responsibility and conduct — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 151 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Some postwar thinkers hoped catastrophe would transform human life for good #qualifies (0.78) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 764
• Belief in a fixed human nature rests on a tragic fallacy. #corroborates (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1023
• Beliefs about human nature shape moral responsibility and conduct #expands (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 151
• Views of human nature as fixed versus malleable map onto conservative versus progressive policy #expands (0.72) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 180