Evil and Human Agency: Understanding Collective Evildoing (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies) - Softcover

Vetlesen, Arne Johan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521673577 ISBN 13: 9780521673570

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Synopsis

Arne Johan Vetlesen argues that to do evil is to intentionally inflict pain on another human being, against his or her will, and cause serious and foreseeable harm. Vetlesen investigates why and in what sort of circumstances such a desire arises, and how it is channeled, or exploited, into collective evildoing. He argues that such evildoing, pitting whole groups against each other, springs from a combination of character, situation, and social structure. Vetlesen shows how closely perpetrators, victims, and bystanders interact, and how aspects of human agency are recognized, denied, and projected by different agents.

About this title

Book Description:

In this provocative and original approach to understanding evil, Professor Vetlesen investigates why and in what sort of circumstances such a desire arises, and how it is channeled, or exploited, into what he calls collective evildoing. A philosophical approach inspired by Hannah Arendt, a psychological approach inspired by C. Fred Alford and a sociological approach inspired by Zygmunt Bauman is brought to bear on the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. Here, Vetlesen shows how closely perpetrators, victims, and bystanders interact. An important book with wide appeal.

About the Author:

Arne Johan Vetlesen is Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, University of Oslo, Norway. He is the author of over thirteen books including Perception, Empathy, and Judgement: An Inquiry into the Preconditions of Moral Performance (1994) and Closeness: An Ethics (with De Maleissye-Melun, 1997).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0521673577
• ISBN 13: 9780521673570
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328