The Meaning of Evil

James Sias (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

230 Seiten

2018 | Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2016
Palgrave Macmillan (Verlag)
978-1-349-95401-8 (ISBN)

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In this book, James Sias investigates the psychologies of those who have acted in ways widely regarded as evil, and uses this psychological data as a basis for developing his own theory of evil. Sometimes, he claims, an action is so horrific and despicable that a term like “wrong” seems to fall short of capturing its moral status. Likewise, occasionally a person’s character is corrupt in such a way that ordinary trait terms like “selfish” or “insensitive,” or more general labels like “bad” or “immoral,” seem inadequate. In such cases, we often resort to calling the person or action “evil.” But what does this term mean? What is it that makes a person or action morally evil? Taking a cue from Hannah Arendt, Sias argues that this sort of evil is essentially a matter of regarding others as “morally superfluous.” In other words, evil is a matter of utter moral disregard. In the course of developing and defending this view, Sias also describes and critiques a number of prominent theories ofevil proposed by philosophers in recent years.

James Sias is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Dickinson College, USA. His research focuses primarily upon issues in ethics and moral psychology.

1. An Introduction to Evil.- Part I. The Psychology of Evil: Some Case Studies.- 2. Serial Murder, Psychopathy, and Objectification.- 3. Genocide, Ideology, and Dehumanization.- 4. Money, Greed, and Commodification.- Part II. The Philosophy of Evil: Puzzles, Problems, and Theories.- 5. Three Puzzles about Evil.- 6. Theories of Evil Personhood.- 7. A New Theory of Evil.

Erscheinungsdatum	23.08.2018
Zusatzinfo	IX, 230 p.
Verlagsort	Basingstoke
Sprache	englisch
Maße	148 x 210 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
ISBN-10	1-349-95401-2 / 1349954012
ISBN-13	978-1-349-95401-8 / 9781349954018
Zustand	Neuware