Being Evil
A Philosophical Perspective
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
We regularly encounter appalling wrongdoing, with the media offering a depressing parade of violent assault, rape, and murder. Yet sometimes even the cynical and world-weary amongst us are taken aback. Sometimes we confront a crime so terrible, so horrendous, so deeply wrong, that we reach for the word 'evil'. The 9/11 terrorist attacks were not merely wrong, but evil. A serial killer who tortures their victims is not merely a bad person. They are evil. And as the Holocaust showed us, we must remain vigilant against the threat of evil. But what exactly is it? If we use the word 'evil', are we buying into a naive Manichean worldview, in which two cosmic forces of good and evil are pitted against one another? Are we guilty of demonizing our enemies? How does 'evil' go beyond what is merely bad or wrong?
This book explores the answers that philosophers have offered to these questions. Luke Russell discusses why some philosophers think that evil is a myth or a fantasy, while others think that evil is real, and is a concept that plays an important role in contemporary secular morality. Along the way he asks whether evil is always horrific and incomprehensible, or if it can be banal. Considering if there is a special psychological hallmark that sets the evildoers apart from the rest of us, Russell also engages with ongoing discussions over psychopathy and empathy, analysing the psychology behind evildoing.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Russell (Evil), professor of philosophy at the University of Sydney, delivers a concise, enthralling exploration of the philosophical nature of evil. In six chapters, Russell covers what evil might be, the qualities necessary to make something an "evil" action, the context of Hannah Arendt's comment about the "banality of evil," whether or not a person can be evil, and the ways the reader (or Russell himself) might be evil. In the first chapter, he runs quickly through a number of potentially evil actions or people the 9/11 terrorists, serial killers, Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and sums up what he believes are the key elements that make for an evil act: the act is morally wrong, the wrongdoer is culpable, the act is intentional, and there are numerous victims. Russell goes on to argue that Arendt's understanding of Adolf Eichmann as being evil only through his own subservience neglects Eichmann's "malicious, clear-sighted" intentions, and, upon considering the proposition that "an action is evil if and only if it is extremely wrong," Russell demonstrates why this statement can't be a complete definition. The strength of Russell's thorough analysis lies in his ability to break down complex philosophical thinking into lay reader friendly rubrics. These nuanced arguments will push any reader toward a fruitful intellectual engagement with the nature of evil acts.
