Radical Evil A Philosophical Interrogation

by Bernstein, Richard J.

• ISBN13: 9780745629544
• ISBN10: 0745629547
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-02
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

At present, there is an enormous gulf between the visibility of evil and the paucity of our intellectual resources for coming to grips with it. We have been flooded with images of death camps, terrorist attacks and horrendous human suffering. Yet when we ask what we mean by radical evil and how we are to account for it, we seem to be at a loss for proper responses. Bernstein seeks to discover what we can learn about the meaning of evil and human responsibility. He turns to philosophers such as Kant, who coined the expression 'radical evil', as well as to Hegel and Schelling. He also examines more recent explorations of evil, namely the thinking of Freud and Nietzsche on the moral psychology of evil. Finally, he looks at the way in which three post-Holocaust thinkers - Emmanuel Levinas, Hans Jonas, and Hannah Arendt - have sought to come to grips with evil "after Auschwitz." Bernstein's primary concern throughout this challenging book is to enrich and deepen our understanding of evil in the contemporary world, and to emphasize the vigilance and personal responsibility required for combating it. Radical Evil will be essential reading for students and scholars of philosophy, social and political theory, and religious studies.

Author Biography

Richard J. Bernstein is Vera List Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research, New York.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(8)
PART I EVIL, WILL, AND FREEDOM	9	(92)
Radical Evil: Kant at War with Himself	11	(35)
Evil maxims	14	(5)
Radical evil	19	(17)
Diabolical evil	36	(6)
Unconditional moral responsibility	42	(4)
Hegel: The Healing of the Spirit?	46	(30)
The finite and the infinite	50	(8)
Evil and finitude	58	(5)
Adam's Fall	63	(4)
The necessity and justification of evil?	67	(6)
Hegel against Hegel	73	(3)
Schelling: The Metaphysics of Evil	76	(25)
Real evil	80	(3)
Ground and existence	83	(5)
Self-will and the principle of darkness	88	(5)
The moral psychology of evil	93	(8)
Intermezzo	98	(3)
PART II THE MORAL PSYCHOLOGY OF EVIL	101	(60)
Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil?	103	(29)
Good and bad versus good and evil	105	(4)
The dialectical ironist	109	(10)
Evil and ressentiment	119	(4)
Beyond good and evil	123	(4)
What we learn from Nietzsche about evil	127	(5)
Freud: Ineradicable Evil and Ambivalence	132	(29)
The ambivalence of the band of brothers	135	(8)
The theory of instincts	143	(11)
Nietzsche and Freud	154	(2)
Responsibility for evil	156	(5)
PART III AFTER AUSCHWITZ	161	(64)
Prologue	163	(3)
Levinas: Evil and the Temptation of Theodicy	166	(18)
The end of theodicy	168	(6)
The phenomenology of evil	174	(6)
Infinite responsibility	180	(4)
Jonas: A New Ethic of Responsibility	184	(21)
The response to nihilism	187	(7)
Evil and our apocalyptic situation	194	(5)
``Demythologizing'' Jonas's myth	199	(2)
Jonas and Levinas	201	(4)
Arendt: Radical Evil and the Banality of Evil	205	(20)
Superfluousness, spontaneity, and plurality	209	(5)
Evil intentions and motivations?	214	(6)
Eichmann: human-all-too-human	220	(5)
Conclusion	225	(11)
Notes	236	(37)
Bibliography	273	(7)
Subject Index	280	(7)
Index of Names	287