Evil

A History

Buch | Softcover

528 Seiten

2019
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-991547-7 (ISBN)

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Thirteen original essays examine the conceptual history of evil in the west: from ancient Hebrew literature and Greek drama to Darwinism and Holocaust theory. Thirteen reflections contextualize the philosophical developments by looking at evil through the eyes of animals, poets, mystics, witches, librettists, film directors, and tech executives.

The code of conduct for a leading tech company famously says "Don't Be Evil." But what exactly is evil? Is it just badness by another name--the shadow side of good? Or is it something more substantive--a malevolent force or power at work in the universe? These are some of the ontological questions that philosophers have grappled with for centuries. But evil also raises perplexing epistemic and psychological questions. Can we really know evil? Does a victim know evil differently than a perpetrator or witness? What motivates evil-doers? Satan's rebellion, Iago's machinations, and Stalin's genocides may be hard to understand in terms of ordinary reasons, intentions, beliefs, and desires. But what about the more "banal" evils performed by technocrats in a collective: how do we make sense of Adolf Eichmann's self-conception as just an effective bureaucrat deserving of a promotion?

Evil: A History collects thirteen essays that tell the story of evil in western thought, starting with its origins in ancient Hebrew wisdom literature and classical Greek drama all the way to Darwinism and Holocaust theory. Thirteen interspersed reflections contextualize philosophical developments by looking at evil through the eyes of animals, poets, mystics, witches, librettists, film directors, and even a tech product manager.

Evil: A History will enlighten readers about one of the most alluring and difficult topics in philosophy and intellectual life, and will challenge their assumptions about the very nature of evil.

Andrew P. Chignell is Professor at Princeton University. He has published articles in early modern philosophy (especially on the work of Immanuel Kant), epistemology and the ethics of belief, aesthetics, and the philosophy of religion. He is currently writing a book on Kantian theories of hope.

Introduction
Andrew P. Chignell

Chapter 1. Evil, Unintelligibility, Radicality: Footnotes to a Correspondence between Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers
Andrew P. Chignell

Chapter 2. Kakology: A Study of Some Evil Words
Antonia Ruppel

Chapter 3. Evil in the Hebrew Bible: The Case of the Wisdom Literature
Carol A. Newsom

Reflection: The Early History of Satan: Before the satan Was Evil
Esther Hamori

Reflection: Meat and Evil
Matthew C. Halteman

Chapter 4. Explaining Evil in Plato, Euripedes, and Seneca
Rachana Kamtekar

Chapter 5. Explaining Evil in Late Antiquity: Plotinus and his Critics
Dominic J. O'Meara

Chapter 6. Augustine on Evil
Peter King

Reflection: Hell as a Problem of Evil in Medieval Women Mystics
Clark West

Chapter 7. ... "but draw not nigh this tree": Evil in Early Islamic Thought
Nadja Germann

Chapter 8. Evil and Late Medieval Thought
Brian Davies

Reflection: Dante and the Evil of Treachery: Narrative and Philosophy
Eleonore Stump

Reflection: Calvinism and the Demonic in the Divine
Derk Pereboom

Reflection: Feminine Evil and Witchcraft
Sarah Pinnock

Chapter 9. Evils, Privations, and the Early Moderns
Samuel Newlands

Reflection: Is Don Giovanni Evil?
Elaine Sisman

Reflection: Kant's Journey on Evil
George Huxford

Chapter 10. Evil in Classical German Philosophy: Selfhood, Deception, and Despair
Allen Wood

Reflection: Leopardi, "Everything is Evil"
Silvia De Toffoli

Chapter 11. What Happened to Evil?
Susan Neiman

Chapter 12. Evil, Natural Science, and Animal Suffering
Eric Martin and Eric Watkins

Reflection: Cinematic Evil
Christy Mag Uidhir

Reflection: The Banality of Evil
Jennifer Geddes

Chapter 13. Evil after the Holocaust
Gabriel Motzkin

Reflection: Satanically Great Instigators and Banal Compliers
Avishai Margalit

Reflection: On Google and Not Being Evil
Wesley Chan

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	10.05.2019
Reihe/Serie	Oxford Philosophical Concepts
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	137 x 208 mm
Gewicht	590 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Geschichte der Philosophie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie der Neuzeit
	Sozialwissenschaften
ISBN-10	0-19-991547-4 / 0199915474
ISBN-13	978-0-19-991547-7 / 9780199915477
Zustand	Neuware