{"product_id":"the-idea-of-evil-isbn-9781118346303","title":"The Idea of Evil","description":"This timely book by philosopher Peter Dews explores the idea of evil, one of the most problematic terms in the contemporary moral vocabulary. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eSurveys the intellectual debate on the nature of evil over the past two hundred years\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eEngages with a broad range of discourses and thinkers, from Kant and the German Idealists, via Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, to Levinas and Adorno\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eSuggests that the concept of moral evil touches on a neuralgic point in western culture\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eArgues that, despite the widespread abuse and political manipulation of the term ‘evil’, we cannot do without it\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eConcludes that if we use the concept of evil, we must acknowledge its religious dimension\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003eList of Abbreviations vi\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePreface viii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntroduction 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 Kant: The Perversion of Freedom 17\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 Fichte and Schelling: Entangled in Nature 46\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 Hegel: A Wry Theodicy 81\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Schopenhauer and Nietzsche: Suffering from Meaninglessness 118\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Levinas: Ethics \u003ci\u003eà l’Outrance \u003c\/i\u003e158\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 Adorno: Radical Evil as a Category of the Social 187\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConclusion 212\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBibliography 235\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 246\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePETER DEWS\u003c\/b\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eLogics of Disintegration\u003c\/i\u003e (1987, reissued 2006), and \u003ci\u003eThe Limits of Disenchantment\u003c\/i\u003e (1995). He has also edited and introduced two books on the work of \u003ci\u003eJürgen Habermas: Autonomy and Solidarity: Interviews with Jürgen Habermas\u003c\/i\u003e (1986) and \u003ci\u003eHabermas: A Critical Reader\u003c\/i\u003e (Blackwell, 1999).   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"At a time when the word 'evil' is being used in blatantly ideological ways, it is more than ever necessary to examine the philosophical history of this elusive concept. \u003ci\u003eThe Idea of Evil\u003c\/i\u003e is a splendidly lucid, erudite, and incisive exploration of the concept of evil in an impressive array of thinkers, which never loses sight of the bearing of this investigation on the politics of the present.\" \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eTerry Eagleton\u003c\/b\u003e, Lancaster University\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"For those of us who until today had a certain mistrust in the current fashion for reintroducing the concept of 'Evil' into philosophical discourse, reading the new book by Peter Dews is an intellectual cure and a theoretical adventure. Certainly the best book on the topic I know of.\" \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eAxel Honneth\u003c\/b\u003e, University of Frankfurt and Columbia University\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Can the concept of evil be taken seriously without a resort to religion, and without losing all faith in emancipatory politics? Peter Dews' timely, scrupulous, and passionate reading of post-Kantian philosophy aspires to acknowledge that we are what's wrong with the world, but without destroying the hope that we might nevertheless change that world for the better.\" \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eStephen Mulhall\u003c\/b\u003e, University of Oxford\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis timely book by philosopher Peter Dews explores the idea of evil, one of the most problematic terms in the contemporary moral vocabulary. Despite the widespread abuse and political manipulation of the term, Dews argues that we cannot do without it. Yet our intuitions about evil pull us in different directions. The centrality of the ideal of rational autonomy to our moral self-image makes it hard for us to confront our own deep propensity to subvert this ideal. But once having recognized the tenacity of evil, we may find ourselves succumbing to moral paralysis, even despair. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe originality of Dews' book is to show that such concerns are not marginal to the European philosophical tradition. They have perturbed some of the greatest thinkers of the modern age, from Kant and the German Idealists, via Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, to Levinas and Adorno. Written with lucidity and verve, \u003ci\u003eThe Idea of Evil\u003c\/i\u003e traces a struggle to translate religious insights into secular, philosophical terms – and to acknowledge the perverse impulse of human freedom, without abandoning hope for a more just and compassionate world.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"At a time when the word 'evil' is being used in blatantly ideological ways, it is more than ever necessary to examine the philosophical history of this elusive concept. \u003ci\u003eThe Idea of Evil\u003c\/i\u003e is a splendidly lucid, erudite and incisive exploration of the concept of evil in an impressive array of thinkers, which never loses sight of the bearing of this investigation on the politics of the present.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTerry Eagleton, University of Manchester\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"For those of us who until today had a certain mistrust in the current fashion for reintroducing the concept of 'Evil' into philosophical discourse, reading the new book by Peter Dews is an intellectual cure and a theoretical adventure. Certainly the best book on the topic I know of.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eAxel Honneth, J. W. Goethe-Universität\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \"Can the concept of evil be taken seriously without a resort to religion, and without losing all faith in emancipatory politics? Peter Dews' timely, scrupulous and passionate reading of post-Kantian philosophy aspires to acknowledge that we are what's wrong with the world, but without destroying the hope that we might nevertheless change that world for the better.\" \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eStephen Mulhall, University of Oxford\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Wiley-Blackwell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47990261907685,"sku":"NP9781118346303","price":30.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781118346303.jpg?v=1761787109","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-idea-of-evil-isbn-9781118346303","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}