Van Pelt’s “moral certainty” about Auschwitz — Apr 2000 (26 Apr 2000 #22763)

Van
Pelt countered that argument, and similar ones, saying
that evidence and testimony in the years since World War
II made it a “moral certainty” that gas chambers were the
main instruments of murder at Auschwitz between the
summer of 1942 and fall of 1944. His report explains at
some length the difference between “moral certainty” and
other types of certainty.

Moral certainty is based on
quality of evidence and is the best certainty a historian
can have, he said. “It’s a very particular technical
term.”
— The Van Pelt interview in Canadian
Jewish News

WONDERFUL stuff. During the
trial, Van Pelt actually says his expression “moral
certainty” is taken from Bishop Wilkins.

And Wilkins
clearly meant a certainty that God exists through the
observation of his works and “natural laws”. Some
“technical” term for a supposed historian debating
historical problems! I have this moral certainty that
Napoleon lost at Waterloo. Sounds very, very technical
historical jargon.

A
S Marques