Universality vs. Uniqueness

Uniqueness versus Universality

Is every person unique or we will someday discover universal laws which define the entire human behavior? In fact, there are more moderate positions. Perhaps there are broad rules of human nature with room for individual variation, which weigh our individuality on our commonalities. Definitely shows how this assumption relates to the previous: The determinism is based on the possibility of universal laws, while there is a free will of a potential source of uniqueness. However, the relationship is not perfect and moderate versions are quite complex.

Uniqueness of Holocaust from other Genocides

The word genocide had not yet been invented when the Holocaust began. Indeed, it was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew who managed to find refuge in the United States in 1941. Derived from the Greek word geno (race or tribe) and the Latin word cide from caedere (killing), Lemkin defined genocide as “a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.” He further identified two patterns of genocide: (1) destruction of the oppressed group, and (2) imposition of “the national pattern of the oppressor” onto the oppressed population. Implied in this second pattern is that members of the oppressed group might be allowed to remain, but their leadership, language, culture, and religion would all be subsumed into the “colonizing culture.” The distinction between these two patterns of genocide makes it possible to differentiate the Holocaust (exemplar of Lemkin's first definition) from other incidents of genocide. Indeed, for many, the word Holocaust itself has evolved into the generic name for an ideologically motivated, planned total murder of a whole people (Weiss, A, p. 50).

Ethnic cleansing, in contrast, was defined by the United Nations ...