The Idea of Evil

by Dews, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781405117043
• ISBN10: 1405117044
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-28
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This timely manifesto on the idea of evil written by a leading philosopher intervenes positively in the resurgent debate about evil. Surveys the intellectual debate on the nature of evil over the past two hundred years Engages with a broad range of discourses and thinkers, from Kant and the German Idealists, via Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, to Levinas and Adorno Suggests that the concept of moral evil touches on a neuralgic point in western culture Argues that, despite the widespread abuse and political manipulation of the term 'evil', we cannot do without it Concludes that if we use the concept of evil, we must acknowledge its religious dimension

Author Biography

Peter Dews is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex. He has published widely on 19th and 20th century European thought, with a focus on German Idealism, the Frankfurt School, and recent French philosophy. He is the author of Logics of Disintegration (1987, reissued 2006), and The Limits of Disenchantment (1995). He has also edited and introduced two books on the work of Jurgen Habermas: Autonomy and Solidarity: Interviews with Jurgen Habermas (1986) and Habermas: A Critical Reader (Blackwell, 1999).

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations	p. vi
Preface	p. viii
Introduction	p. 1
Kant: The Perversion of Freedom	p. 17
Fichte and Schelling: Entangled in Nature	p. 46
Hegel: A Wry Theodicy	p. 81
Schopenhauer and Nietzsche: Suffering from Meaninglessness	p. 118
Levinas: Ethics a l'Outrance	p. 158
Adorno: Radical Evil as a Category of the Social	p. 187
Conclusion	p. 212
Bibliography	p. 235
Index	p. 246
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.