(in Polish) Moral Evil

elective seminars
general courses

(in Polish) The candidates need to have completed a university course in ethics.

Classroom

After a long period of relative disuse, since the middle of the XXth century the concept of moral evil has regained the interest of moral philosophers. It has happened, no doubt, as a reaction to the atrocities of the Second World War, impossible, according to many thinkers, to adequately describe using the other terms expressing moral critique or condemnation. The rhetoric of moral evil carries, however, its own dangers. It can oversimplify psychologically and morally complicated situations and lead to branding and excluding people we want to criticize. The aim of this seminar will be to examine the concept of moral evil, in order to try to establish whether it is indeed more harmful than helpful, or if there exist moral intuitions and challenges which require adopting this concept and working towards its better understanding.

After a long period of relative disuse, since the middle of the XXth century the concept of moral evil has regained the interest of moral philosophers. It has happened, no doubt, as a reaction to the atrocities of the Second World War, impossible, according to many thinkers, to adequately describe using the other terms expressing moral critique or condemnation. The rhetoric of moral evil carries, however, its own dangers. It can oversimplify psychologically and morally complicated situations and lead to branding and excluding people we want to criticize. The aim of this seminar will be to examine the concept of moral evil. In doing so, we will try to establish whether it is indeed more harmful than helpful, or if there exist moral intuitions and challenges which require adopting this concept and working towards its better understanding.

1. I. Kant, Religion Withing the Limits of Reason Alone, many editions, fragments.

2. R. Bernstein, 2002, Radical Evil: a philosophical interrogation, Malden, MA: Polity Press, fragments.

3. H. Arendt, 1951 [1985], The Origins of Totalitarianism, San Diego: A Harvest Book, Harcourt, Inc., fragments.

4. H. Arendt, 1963 [1994], Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, New York: Penguin Books, fragments.

5. L. Thomas, 1993, Vessels of Evil: American Slavery and the Holocaust, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, fragments.

6. L. Russell, 2006, “Evil-Revivalism Versus Evil-Skepticism,” Journal of Value Inquiry, 40: 89–105.

7. H. Steiner, 2002, “Calibrating Evil,” The Monist, 85 (2): 183–193.

8. C. Card, 2002, The Atrocity Paradigm: A Theory of Evil, Oxford: Oxford University Press, fragments.

9. M. G. Singer, 2004, “The Concept of Evil,” Philosophy, 79: 185–214.

10. D. M. Haybron, 2002b, “Moral Monsters and Saints,” The Monist, 85 (2): 260–284.

11. R. W. Perrett, 2002, “Evil and Human Nature,” Monist, 85 (2): 304–319.

12. E. Garrard, 1998, “The Nature of Evil,” Philosophical Explorations: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Mind and Action, 1 (1): 43–60.

13. P. Formosa, 2008, “A Conception of Evil,” Journal of Value Inquiry, 42 (2): 217–239.

14. J. Kekes, 2005, The Roots of Evil, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, fragments.

The list of readings may be expanded.

The student knows and understands

- the main directions and some of the most important new achievements in the field of ethics, (K_W05)

- selected tendencies and positions in the contemporary moral philosophy. (K_W06)

The student is able to

- analyze philosophical arguments, identify their premises and their theses, as well as establish the logical relations between them. (K_U03)

- identify advanced argumentative strategies in written texts. (K_U04)

- choose argumentative strategies, construct advanced critical arguments, respond to criticism in an innovative way. (K_U08)

The student is ready to

- identify the gaps in his or her knowledge and skills and look for remedies. (K_K02)

- participate actively in the social and cultural life of his or her community; he or she is interested in the new philosophical ideas in their connection to other aspects of the social life and encourages others to implement them. (K_K05)

Active participation in the discussion.

Preparing and giving one classroom presentation.

Acceptable number of missed classes without formal explanation: 2