The Idea of Evil

This 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 modern self–image makes it hard for us to accommodate deeply rooted and obscurely destructive motivations. Furthermore, once having recognized the reality of evil, we may find ourselves succumbing to moral paralysis, even despair.

Dews shows that these 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, The Idea of Evil 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.

List of Abbreviations. Preface. Introduction Kant: The Perversion of Freedom Fichte and Schelling: Entangled in Nature Hegel: A Wry Theodicy Schopenhauer and Nietzsche: Suffering from Meaninglessness Levinas: Ethics à l′Outrance Adorno: Radical Evil as a Category of the Social . Conclusion. Bibliography. Index

Peter Dews 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 Logics of Disintegration (1987, reissued 2006), and The Limits of Disenchantment (1995). He has also edited and introduced two books on the work of Jürgen Habermas: Autonomy and Solidarity: Interviews with Jürgen Habermas (1986) and Habermas: A Critical Reader (Blackwell, 1999).

"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. The Idea of Evil 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."
Terry Eagleton, University of Manchester

"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."
Axel Honneth, J. W. Goethe–Universität

"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."
Stephen Mulhall, University of Oxford