Why Posthumous Pardoning matters? Philosophical reflections on the Shot at Dawn Policy and its aftermath during the Great War.

Floris Tomasini

This public talk attempts to make conceptual sense of posthumous harm and redemption. By conceptually re-framing posthumous harm and redemption, it is possible to throw new light onto a historical controversy: whether it is right or wrong to posthumously pardon those Shot at Dawn during the Great War. 

Some historians argue that posthumous pardoning is pointless, and/or dangerous, because it is tantamount to re-writing history. I rebut both arguments, arguing that it is about re-evaluating the past in the present, doing justice to posthumous reputations re-figured, and being compassionate to living relatives who carry the shame of having a relative most commonly executed for desertion or cowardice.    

Free e-book Remembering and Disremembering the Dead, by Floris Tomasini, can be accessed here https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137538277