Ethics of evil : pyschoanalytic investigations / edited by Ronald C. Naso and Jon Mills.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Naso, Ronald C., 1954- editor.

Mills, Jon, 1964- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Good and evil--Psychological aspects.

Good and evil.

Ethics--Psychological aspects.

Ethics.

Psychoanalysis and philosophy.

Criminal psychology.

Physical Description:

xx, 284 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Karnac, 2016.

Summary:

In today's world, where every form of transgression enjoys a psychological motive and rational justification, psychoanalysis stands alone in its ability to uncover the hidden motives that inform individual and social collective behaviour. Both in theory and in practice, it bears witness to the impact of anonymity on the potential for perpetration, especially when others are experienced as faceless, disposable objects whose otherness is, at bottom, but a projection, displacement, and denial of our own inferiority - in short, the evil within. In keeping with this perspective, Ethics of Evil rejects facile rationalisations of violence; it also rejects the idea that evil, as a concept, is inscrutable or animated by demonic forces. Instead, it evaluates the moral framework in which evil is situated, providing a descriptive understanding of it as a plurality and a depth psychological perspective on the threat it poses for our well-being and ways of life. In so doing, it also fashions and articulates an ethical stance that recognises the intrinsic link between human freedom and the potential for evil. The contributors to this book argue that moralising evil is one of the most important agendas of our time. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I How ought we to live?

Chapter 1 On the brink of extinction / Jon Mills Mills, Jon 3

Chapter 2 The antinomy of morality in Freud / Dan Merkur Merkur, Dan 45

Chapter 3 The psychology of evil / Aner Govrin Govrin, Aner 95

Part II Clinical Applications

Chapter 4 The intergenerational transmission of the catastrophic effects of real world history expressed through the analytic subject / Robin McCoy Brooks Brooks, Robin McCoy 137

Chapter 5 For the love of money: dissociation, crime, and the challenges of ethical life / Ronald C. Naso Naso, Ronald C. 177

Part III Applied Studies

Chapter 6 Past imperfect: historical trauma and its transmission / Robert Prince Prince, Robert 203

Chapter 7 The lie of the banality of evil: Hannah Arendt's fatal flaw / Henry Zvi Lothane Lothane, Henry Zvi 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781782203957

1782203958

OCLC:

948839746