The Function of Evil across Disciplinary Contexts (Hardcover)

Malcah Effron

ISBN 10: 1498533418 / ISBN 13: 9781498533416

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Lanham, MD, 2017

About this Item

Hardcover. The Function of Evil Across Disciplinary Contexts explores answers to two important questions about the age-old theme of evil: is there any use in using the concept of evil in cultural, psychological, or other secular evaluations of the world and its productions? Most importantly, if there is, what might these functions be? By looking across several disciplines and analyzing evil as it is referenced across a broad spectrum of phenomena, this work demonstrates the varying ways that we interact with the ethical dilemma as academics, as citizens, and as people. The work draws from authors in different fieldsincluding history, literary and film studies, philosophy, and psychologyand from around the world to provide an analysis of evil in such topics as deeply canonical as Beowulf and Shakespeare to subjects as culturally resonant as Stephen King, Captain America, or the War on Terror. By bringing together this otherwise disparate collection of scholarship, this collection reveals that discussions of evil across disciplines have always been questions of how cultures represent that which they find socially abhorrent. This work thus opens the conversation about evil outside of field-specific limitations, simultaneously demonstrating the assumptions that undergird the manner by which such a conversation proceeds. The book offers an interdisciplinary approach to a subject that has largely been the province of religious studies and philosophy. Tackling the function of evil across social contexts rather than seeking a definition of evil, this collection explores the use of the term "evil" in multiple eras, genres, and disciplines. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781498533416

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Function of Evil across Disciplinary Contexts (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Lanham, MD
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1498533418
• ISBN 13: 9781498533416
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The Function of Evil Across Disciplinary Contexts explores answers to two important questions about the age-old theme of evil: is there any use in using the concept of evil in cultural, psychological, or other secular evaluations of the world and its productions? Most importantly, if there is, what might these functions be? By looking across several disciplines and analyzing evil as it is referenced across a broad spectrum of phenomena, this work demonstrates the varying ways that we interact with the ethical dilemma as academics, as citizens, and as people. The work draws from authors in different fields―including history, literary and film studies, philosophy, and psychology―and from around the world to provide an analysis of evil in such topics as deeply canonical as Beowulf and Shakespeare to subjects as culturally resonant as Stephen King, Captain America, or the War on Terror. By bringing together this otherwise disparate collection of scholarship, this collection reveals that discussions of evil across disciplines have always been questions of how cultures represent that which they find socially abhorrent. This work thus opens the conversation about evil outside of field-specific limitations, simultaneously demonstrating the assumptions that undergird the manner by which such a conversation proceeds.

About the Author

Jim Casey is an independent scholar based in the USA. He has retired from teaching but is still active in the field, and has over thirty peer-reviewed publications, including an edition of Shakespeare and Fletcher's The Two Noble Kinsmen and the collection Shakespeare/Not Shakespeare (2017). He is a Fulbright Fellow, National Endowment for the Humanities Grant recipient, and past President of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.