Evil: a history

by Chignell, Andrew

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Title Statements

Full title :Evil : a history / edited by Andrew P. Chignell.

Summary

"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."--Provided by publisher.

Edition Statements

Publication Date:2019

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):Oxford University Press
Place of Publication:New York, NY
Language:eng
Publication Date:2019

The Physical Object

Description:xxiv, 499 pages : : illustrations ; : 21 cm.

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9780199915453, 0199915458, 9780199915477, 0199915474
oclc:on1076548924
LC Classification:BJ1401
Dewey Decimal:170

Introduction / Andrew Chignell -- Evil, unintelligibility, radicality : footnotes to a correspondence between Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers / Andrew Chignell -- Kakology : a study of some evil words / Antonia Ruppel -- 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 -- Explaining evil in Plato, Euripides, and Seneca / Rachana Kamtekar -- Explaining evil in late antiquity : Plotinus and His critics / Dominic J. O'Meara -- Augustine on evil / Peter King -- Reflection : hell as a problem of evil in Medieval women mystics / Clark West -- ..But draw not nigh this tree : evil in early Islamic thought / Nadja Germann -- Evil and late Medieval thought / Brian Davies -- Reflection : Dante on 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 -- Evils, privations, and the early moderns / Samuel Newlands -- Reflection : is Don Giovanni evil? / Elaine Sisman -- Reflection : Kant'…