POLITICAL EVIL

Moral Evil in Practical Ethics, 2018

This paper examines a neglected issue within recent philosophical discussions of a secular concept of evil. The notion of 'political evil' seeks to explain the profound normative social influence that malevolent ideologies have on the behaviour of individuals and the development of their characters. The recent scholarship on secular evil focuses on either evil acts and/or evil persons/characters largely ignoring the social dimension or context in which large scale evils such as genocide occur. A concept of political evil better explains the warping of the moral landscape that takes place, providing the normative framework within which genocide, wide spread torture and mass murder occur. The paper argues that a notion of political evil is an important part of our moral vocabulary without which we cannot adequately understand or describe horrific events such as the Holocaust from a normative perspective.

Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Evil, 2019

Many scholars who have been active in calling for renewed philosophical attention to evil invoke genocides and mass atrocities to argue that evil is an important part of our human experience and moral vocabulary. Simultaneously, numerous social scientists who specialize in research on genocides and atrocities have applied the label “evil” to the phenomena and cases they study. Yet engagement between these two literatures is limited - few philosophers have delved into contemporary social scientific research on genocide and mass atrocites in depth, while social scientists have often explicitly downplayed any suggestion that their empirical research carries philosophical relevance. In this chapter, I attempt to remedy this disconnect, and bring research on genocides and mass atrocities into more detailed conversation with philosophical work on evil. I emphasise three key social scientific findings on a) the ordinariness of atrocity perpetrators, b) the role of beliefs and understandings in making even extreme violence appear justified, and c) the role of situational social pressure in inducing participation in atrocity. I then suggest that such work carries three key implications for the philosophical literature on evil: first, that we are unlikely to identify any plausible 'psychological hallmark' of evil; second, that evil is often an emergent phenomena generated by collective social environments; and third, that a complex and often indirect relationship exists between evil action and harm.

2021

This book is an inquiry into particular matters concerning the nature, normativity, and aftermath of evil action. It combines philosophical conceptual analysis with empirical studies in psychology and discussions of historical events to provide an innovative analysis of evil action. The book considers unresolved questions belonging to metaethical, normative, and practical characteristics of evil action. It begins by asking whether Kant's historical account of evil is still relevant for contemporary thinkers. Then it addresses features of evil action that distinguish it from mundane wrongdoing, thereby placing it as a proper category of philosophical inquiry. Next, the author inquires into how evil acts affect moral relationships and challenge Strawsonian accounts of moral responsibility. He then draws conceptual and empirical connections between evil acts such as genocide, torture, and slavery and collective agency, and asks why evil acts are often collective acts. Finally, the author questions both the possibility and propriety of forgiveness and vengeance in the aftermath of evil and discusses how individuals ought to cope with the pervasiveness of evil in human interaction.

2006

The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Evil, 2019

APA Handbook of Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality, 2013

Journal of Hate Studies, 2001

Ethics & International Affairs, 2002

In the aftermath of the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, the categories of “good” and “evil” have come to dominate the rhetorical response of the U.S. government. This article investigates the implications of using the concept of “evil” as a major public policy rationale. The article focuses on the Bush Administration's attempts to frame its policy around this term in the current campaign against terrorism, but also considers recent uses of the term in the growing literature on war crimes, genocide, and domestic repression. Because the concept of evil has deep roots in various theological understandings, we examine its religious meanings (largely within the Christian tradition) and the problems that arise when applying it in the secular context of government policy. In assessing these problems, we focus on Hannah Arendt's efforts to comprehend the evils of totalitarianism within a secular perspective.We argue that in contemporary policy discourse, “evil” i...

The paper proposes a general model of the psychology of evil based on the hypothesis that the conditions of human evolution: eusociality, the need to recognize the emotions of others and to predict their behavior, the acceptance of symbolic reality and need for an overarching frame of reference (symbolic universe) as well as the need for consistency and pain avoidance have led to the evolution of specialized brain structures and behavioral strategies. Evil is the unintended result of the interaction between these adaptive mechanisms. The specific forms of evil being discussed originate in the special manner the brain processes information with religious and/or and ideological content, bypassing cortical structures dedicated to the control of social behavior such as the lateral prefrontal cortex. The appraisal of social situations is distorted, resulting in perceived threat and increased mortality salience, which in turn leads to less differentiated, more emotional responses and scapegoating. Memes incorporated in the symbolic universe help the spreading and maintenance of bigoted and/or totalitarian belief systems. Each form of evil discussed creates its own myth: worldwide Jewish conspiracy and the Jew as God killer, the myth of destiny based on racial superiority, the myth of an egalitarian and just future for mankind. Those who disagree are seen as fair targets for discrimination, aggression and extermination and obedience to authority facilitates the use of violence against them. Adaptive mechanisms whose function is to mitigate the effect of extreme experiences, such as psychic numbing and doubling shield the perpetrators of violence against the consequences of their own actions and self-deception helps them maintain the appearance of normality. The fact that these forms of evil originate in adaptive mechanisms assures their durability. The examples used in the text are drawn from history, including the relatively recent history of Romania and from contemporary developments. Key words: Eusociality, theory of mind, appraisal, religion, ideology, evil, anti-Semitism, racism totalitarianism, psychic numbing and doubling, protoself and core self, amygdala, prefrontal lateral cortex, Damasio, Gazzaniga, Kandel, Zeki, Kanwisher, Milgram, Lifton, Wilson

2009