Evil: A challenge to philosophy and theology / Edition 2

by Paul Ricoeur

Overview

Where does evil come from? How is it that we do evil? This book falls into three parts. The fi rst part deals with the magnitude and complexity of the problem of evil from a phenomenological perspective. The second part investigates the levels of speculation on the origin and nature of evil. The third discusses thinking, acting and feeling in connection with evil. The discussion runs in the classic intellectual tradition from Augustine, through Hegel, Leibnitz, Kant, and Nietzsche. But the voice is always that of Paul Ricoeur himself, though he also refers to modern writers like Harold Kushner (When Bad Things Happen to Good People) and John K. Roth (Encountering Evil). Ricoeur considers here man's vulnerability to evil with depth and matchless sensitivity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826494764
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/21/2007
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x 0.16(d)

About the Author

Paul Ricoeur was a leading French thinker best known for combining phenomenological description with hermeneutic interpretation. His first major work was Philosophy of Will published in the UK in 1980. Other translated works include The Symbolization of Evil and The Conflict of Interpretations. Born in 1913 he was a professor at Nanterre and Strasbourg. In 2004, he was awarded the second John W. Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Human Sciences (shared with Jaroslav Pelikan). Ricoeur died in 2005.

Table of Contents

Extended Introduction by Graham Ward
Preface by Pierre Gisel
 
1. The experience of evil
2. The levels of discussion and discourse on evil
3. Thinking, acting, feeling

Editorial Reviews

Evil: A History in Modern French Literature and Thought offers a rich study of French thought on evil in its development over almost two centuries. Catani succeeds in the ambitious task of placing in dialogue with one another upwards of forty key thinkers in order to establish a series of significant shifts in understanding evil that will greatly benefit scholars of intellectual history.” —Scott M. Powers, University of Mary Washington, H-France Review

From the Publisher

Evil: A History in Modern French Literature and Thought offers a rich study of French thought on evil in its development over almost two centuries. Catani succeeds in the ambitious task of placing in dialogue with one another upwards of forty key thinkers in order to establish a series of significant shifts in understanding evil that will greatly benefit scholars of intellectual history.

H-France Review - Scott M. Powers