Hitler’s Ethic

Abstract

Did Hitler even have an ethic? Since Hitler is the epitome of evil, some will think it absurd even to consider the possibility that morality played a significant role in his worldview. In order to perpetrate such radical evil, many assume, he must have been either an immoral opportunist or else as an amoral nihilist. Gisela Bock, for instance, in her works on eugenics and sterilization properly stresses the Nazi devaluing of human life and rejection of humane ethics.¹ However, by accenting only what the Nazis opposed morally, she only gives one side of the story. Did they replace humane ethics with an inhumane ethic, or did they abandon morality altogether?