Being Evil: A Philosophical Perspective

by Luke Russell

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192606631
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	09/24/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	709 KB

About the Author

Luke Russell is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney, where he teaches ethics and critical thinking. Luke has written on various topics in the field of moral philosophy, including evil, forgiveness, virtue, and vice, and is the author of Evil: A Philosophical Investigation (OUP, 2014).

Table of Contents

1. The philosophical puzzle of evil
2. The horror and incomprehensibility of evil
3. The psychological hallmark of evil
4. The banality of evil
5. An evil person
6. Are you evil? Is anyone evil?
Index
Further Reading

Editorial Reviews

08/31/2020

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. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty." — R. White, CHOICE

"Russell demonstrates that while certain familiar conceptions of evil are woefully inadequate, it is still possible to formulate simple and useful definitions of what it is for actions and people to be evil, and these definitions make it clear why caution is called for in labelling people evil. Anyone interested in ideas will enjoy and profit from reading this book." — Professor Michael Smith, Princeton University

From the Publisher