- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Polity Press (24 July 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0745629547
- ISBN-13: 978-0745629544
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 504,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £6.70
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Radical Evil: A Philosophical Interrogation for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £6.70, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
“Richard Bernstein takes us through the most baffling question of all, the one that in the end defies philosophical understanding, that of evil. The last century put this irresistibly on our agenda, and we cannot avoid it. No–one has the answer, but Bernstein takes us through a number of the most important and insightful thinkers, who can help us in our search. With the admirable clarity and great philosophical sympathy which always characterizes his work, he defines their understanding of evil, and puts them into conversation with each other. One emerges from this work still baffled, but in a much more fruitful way, empowered to go on thinking. This is a striking achievement for a work on this subject. Bernstein has once again pushed the debate forward several steps.”
Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, McGill University
"Richard Bernstein′s work represents the best of an American tradition in philosophy, inspired by pragmatism and the analytical requirements of jargon–free clarity and drawing extensively and powerfully on traditions within Continental philosophy. To my ears Bernstein′s is a hugely important voice in contemporary philosophical debate – it is sane and humane."
Simon Critchley, Centre for Theoretical Studies, University of Essex
Product Description
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.
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.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
I have begun with these two epigraphs from Hannah Arendt because they help to orient my discussion of Kant. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I have begun with these two epigraphs from Hannah Arendt because they help to orient my discussion of Kant. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
5 of 15 people found the following review helpful
The history of the term 'radical evil'
9 Mar 2003
Format:Paperback
Much discussion of the Holocaust, perhaps influenced in part by Hannah Arendt, invokes the phrase 'radical evil'. But the term springing from Kant, in his Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, speaks what seems a different almost technical language of the will, in the context of the critique of practical reason. There the surface complexity of the lore of Kant's distinction of Wille and Wilkur seem to obscure the analyis, although Kant, too out of fashion, and bespeaks the question with underhanded profundity. One needs perhaps to get the knack of noting, if not understanding, the implications of these abstractions blind before the noumenal dragon's lair--of what do we speak, if of the 'will'??! As Arendt seems to suggest, Kant was not quite letting on.
This work is an invaluable history and compendium to any discussion of 'radical evil', and of the passage of the them via Kant through Hegel and Schelling to Nietzsche and Freud, concluding with the post-Holocaust thinkers Levinas, Johas, Arendt. This history should be better known in an age when the discussion is either positivistic discussion of the next robot advance in value free science or some mythical strain from the spiritual Hollywoods of too long ago. After Kant, 'at war with himself'(the point is debatable),the author critiques Hegel's great system with the sure fate of this question in a tighly conceived teleology, and then the surprisingly refreshing views of the less well known Schelling. It is hard to take the analysis of the inscrutable beyond these seminal sources (in my view,I find Nietzsche less profound that his reputation would suggest), but the remaining discussions are compelling none the less as the question explodes from its airy quality in the context of the twentieth century. Very fine study, although one might have thought Marx/anti-Marx a pole of this history. The question of 'radical evil' in relation to Hannah Arendt is also considered in the author's Hannah Arendt and the Jewish question.
This work is an invaluable history and compendium to any discussion of 'radical evil', and of the passage of the them via Kant through Hegel and Schelling to Nietzsche and Freud, concluding with the post-Holocaust thinkers Levinas, Johas, Arendt. This history should be better known in an age when the discussion is either positivistic discussion of the next robot advance in value free science or some mythical strain from the spiritual Hollywoods of too long ago. After Kant, 'at war with himself'(the point is debatable),the author critiques Hegel's great system with the sure fate of this question in a tighly conceived teleology, and then the surprisingly refreshing views of the less well known Schelling. It is hard to take the analysis of the inscrutable beyond these seminal sources (in my view,I find Nietzsche less profound that his reputation would suggest), but the remaining discussions are compelling none the less as the question explodes from its airy quality in the context of the twentieth century. Very fine study, although one might have thought Marx/anti-Marx a pole of this history. The question of 'radical evil' in relation to Hannah Arendt is also considered in the author's Hannah Arendt and the Jewish question.
0 of 9 people found the following review helpful
The book
22 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
since i,m abroad,( a relative is bringing it to my country) i haven't seen the book, but i guess it must be ok.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
