Perspectives on evil : from banality to genocide / edited by Kanta Dihal.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dihal, Kanta Sarasvati Monique, 1990- (editor).

Series:

At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries ; 103.

At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries ; 103

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Good and evil.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Leiden, The Netherlands ; Boston : Brill Rodopi, [2019]

Summary:

"The question of evil is one of the oldest and most intensely studied topics in intellectual history. In fiction, legend and mythology the boundary between good and evil is often depicted as clear-cut, at least to the reader or listener, who is supposed to understand such tales as lessons and warnings. Evil is something that must be avoided by the hero in some cases and vanquished in others; it is either the exact opposite of the expected good behaviour, or its complete absence. Even so, for the characters in these didactic fictions, it turns out to be deceptively easy to fall to the infernal, ‘dark’ side. This volume draws on the expertise of an interdisciplinary group of contributors to chart events and deeds of an ‘evil’ nature that have been lived in the (recent) past and have become part of history, from individual to institutionalised evil." -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Front Matter

Copyright

Notes on Contributors

Introduction / Kanta Dihal

The Banality and the Familiarity of Evil

From Victims to Perpetrators: the Banality of Evil in Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones / Damian Catani

Unspeakable Banality: Discourse in Dispute / Cassie Pedersen

Genocide in Rwanda

In Plain Sight: the Ethics of Proximity in the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide / Sarah Gendron

On the Role of Nation-States in Regulating Evil: a Case Study on Rwanda / Sally Nadeau

Extraordinary Forgiveness / Jennifer Vanderheyden

Capitalism and the Socio-Psychology of Evil

Late Capitalism, Psychopathy and the Ontology of Evil / Helen Patey

Psychologising Evil in the Media: a Market-Like Exchange of Political Responsibility for Isolation in the Greek Crisis Environment / Sophia Kanaouti

The Fury of ‘Ressentiment’: Binary Codes, Evil and Society / Spiros Gangas

On the Usefulness of Being Unrealistic: a Critique of Freud’s Arguments against Neighbour Love / Regan Lance Reitsma

Dehumanization, the Law and the Prison

Socio-Spatial Scripts: Evil and the Contestation of Space and Being / Rallie Murray

The Intersection between Evil and Architecture: Environment and Agency / Robert W. Butler

Choosing between Two Evils: a Philosophical Consideration of the Defences of Necessity and Duress in English Law / Stephen Banks

Back Matter

Index.

ISBN:

9789004365827

9789004409262 (e-book)

9004365826

9004409262

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004409262 DOI