Participants gather for an evening address parrhesiastes to define morality in controversial ways. Though personal objections might arise when considering whether a Nazi could be considered a parrhesiastes, it stands to reason that if the Nazi genuinely acted in truth and met the outstanding qualifications of parrhesia set forth by Foucault, he could be considered as such.
without diverse popular participation.”17 This statement recognizes the importance of elite powers in decision-making, while effectively placing the highest importance on the public’s role in the process. In this view, communities are given the task of judging and evaluating standards of truth. It can be assumed that the community not only evaluates morals, but also strives to uphold and implement them as well. A second method for dealing with truthclaims surfaces in a critique of Borneman’s work. In his article “From Reconciliation to Coexistence,” Steven Sampson argues that competing truth claims ought to be determined in a court of law rather than in communities. Sampson asserts that the benefit of listening will only surface “if we have strong, impersonal institutions.”18 He continues by describing the specific role of impersonality in each arena: “In communities, such impersonality can lead to objectification and genocide. Yet it is precisely impersonality – in the form of legal institutions – that is required to lift community conflicts out of the quagmire of personal vendetta or ethnic revenge and into the realm of justice.”19 His view suggests that the enmeshment between a community and its affiliates renders that group of people incapable of making impartial decisions. This, says Sampson, is the very quality that leads to heinous demonstrations of group violence and prejudice. In response, he appoints the government as an impartial hand of justice. The detached nature of the government becomes the very quality necessary for properly discerning and enforcing moral behavior.
MODERN SOLUTIONS TO DEALING WITH COMPETING TRUTHS The specific example of ethnic cleansing surfaces the issues surrounding different definitions of truth, a problem facing modern scholars who wish to make judgments about controversial issues. A general overview of the strategies used by these critics to discern between various accounts of truth highlights the relevance of this issue and demonstrates the discrepancies that exist in the field. When multiple truths arise, contemporary critics are left with two main ways of reconciling them. In his essay “Reconciliation after Ethnic Cleansing,” John Borneman suggests that truths ought to be assessed by communities and used to influence public policy. Borneman suggests that communities employ listening strategies that involve “weighing competitive accounts.”16 Though the process for arriving at truth is not made explicit in his description, one can assume that the community will rightly understand which accounts are favorable. Borneman makes clear the role of communities in this practice, claiming, “While educated and critical elites are important for this public sphere, they are insufficient 110