About

In 2016, in response to recent attacks on cultural heritage sites in Syria, Iraq, and Timbuktu, the J. Paul Getty Trust convened a meeting at the British Academy in London to discuss the need for an international framework to protect cultural heritage in zones of armed conflict. To further explore these questions, the Trust subsequently launched the J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural Heritage Policy.

In this third issue, philosophers Helen Frowe and Derek Matravers pose a key question: what is the appropriate response to attacks on cultural heritage? They assert that we must more carefully consider the morality of using deadly military force to protect cultural heritage. Frowe and Matravers question the leading argument that there is a causal relationship between the destruction of cultural heritage and genocide, and they further argue that the defense of heritage must not be treated with the same weight or urgency—and thus should not be protected according to the same international policies—as the defense of human lives. By calling for expanded theory, empirical data, and the consideration of morality in the crafting of international resolutions, Frowe and Matravers present a compelling, thoughtful critique that stimulates debate on this critical topic.

Citation Information

Chicago

Frowe, Helen, and Derek Matravers. “Conflict and Cultural Heritage: A Moral Analysis of the Challenges of Heritage Protection.” J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural Heritage Policy, no. 3 (2019). http://getty.edu/publications/occasional-papers-3/.

MLA

Frowe, Helen, and Derek Matravers. “Conflict and Cultural Heritage: A Moral Analysis of the Challenges of Heritage Protection.” J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural Heritage Policy, no. 3, 2019, getty.edu/publications/occasional-papers-3/. Accessed Aug. 29, 2019.

Permanent URL

http://getty.edu/publications/occasional-papers-3/

Revision History

Any revisions or corrections made to this publication after the first edition date will be listed here and in the project repository at github.com/thegetty/occasional-papers-3/, where a more detailed version history is available. The revisions branch of the project repository, when present, will also show any changes currently under consideration but not yet published here.

October 15, 2019

  • First edition

Other Formats

This publication was created using Quire™, a multiformat publishing tool from Getty.

This publication has been funded by the President’s International Council, J. Paul Getty Trust.

© 2019 J. Paul Getty Trust

CC-BY-NCCC-BY-NC

This text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The cover image is reproduced with the permission of the rights holder acknowledged in the caption and is expressly excluded from the CC BY-NC license covering the rest of this publication. The image may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted, or manipulated without consent from the owner, who reserves all rights.

Published by Getty Publications, Los Angeles
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 500
Los Angeles, California 90049-1682
getty.edu/publications

ISBN 978-1-60606-639-3 (online)
ISBN 978-1-60606-640-9 (e-book)

Also in the series:

“Cultural Cleansing and Mass Atrocities: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict Zones”
Thomas G. Weiss and Nina Connelly

“Cultural Genocide and the Protection of Cultural Heritage”
Edward C. Luck

“Cultural Heritage under Siege: Laying the Foundation for a Legal and Political Framework to Protect Cultural Heritage at Risk in Zones of Armed Conflict”
Edited by James Cuno and Thomas G. Weiss


Cover: A boy stands at the entrance of a destroyed building in Mosul, Iraq, March 14, 2018. Photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye / Getty Images