Why Moral Philosophy Cannot Explain Oskar Schindler but Keneally’s Novel Can

Abstract

Neither moral philosophy nor history provides a satisfactory explanation for Oskar Schindler’s extraordinary rescue of more than 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust. Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark does. Although Schindler’s Ark is technically a work of fiction, that generic label obscures its contribution as a fictionalised account of true events. By using a novelist’s tools to tell an historical story, Keneally allows us to make inferences as to the motives of his protagonist and thereby helps us to understand what propelled the moral behaviour of Oskar Schindler.

Citation

Schwartz, M. and Comer, D.R. (2014), "Why Moral Philosophy Cannot Explain Oskar Schindler but Keneally’s Novel Can", The Contribution of Fiction to Organizational Ethics (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 131-152. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-209620140000011006