When human beings do horrifying things, are they evil? By exploring such popular literature as The Talented Mr. Ripley , Dante's Inferno , The Turn of the Screw , and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , Koehn illustrates that the roots of human violence are not true evil but a symptom of our failure to really know who we are. It is this lack of understanding of ourselves that can lead humans to perform horrifying deeds, rather than 'evil' itself. This is a deep look into human nature, its beauty and its failings. The Nature of Evil offers an insightful and engaging exploration at a time when we are all struggling to understand the roots of violence and suffering.
'Evil is a palpable destructive force in our lives. With precision and energy Daryl Koehn unpacks this phenomenon and offers us a shockingly straightforward thesis. Evil, all human suffering, is caused by our narcissistic preoccupation with self and our failure to understand who we are and what we want and need. Koehn claims that we are both the source and victim of our own suffering. This is a must read for every student of the human condition.' - Al Gini, Associate Editor, Business Ethics Quarterly, and author of The Importance of Being Lazy
'Koehn's discussion of literary paradigms is fresh, interesting and beautifully expressed, making one wish all literary criticism were as good as this.' - A. L-S, The Heythrop Journal
About the Author
DARYL KOEHN is professor of Business Ethics, University of St. Thomas, Texas, USA. She is Executive Director at the Center for Business Ethics and was the 2002-2003 President of the Society for Business Ethics. She is the Author/Editor of several books including Rethinking Feminist Ethics.
When human beings do horrifying things, are they evil? By exploring such popular literature as The Talented Mr. Ripley , Dante's Inferno , The Turn of the Screw , and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , Koehn illustrates that the roots of human violence are not true evil but a symptom of our failure to really know who we are. It is this lack of understanding of ourselves that can lead humans to perform horrifying deeds, rather than 'evil' itself. This is a deep look into human nature, its beauty and its failings. The Nature of Evil offers an insightful and engaging exploration at a time when we are all struggling to understand the roots of violence and suffering.
From Publishers Weekly
Taking a kind of Nietzschean-Buddhist approach to ethics, Koehn argues that evil results from a single source: "human suffering caused by our lack of self-knowledge"—with violence, malice and vice as evil's most visible symptoms. Executive director of the Center for Business Ethics and a chaired professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Koehn ( Rethinking Feminist Ethics ) illustrates categories of evil-fostering self-delusion with a variety of dense but lucid readings from literature, including chapters devoted to "Evil as Flight from Narcissistic Boredom" ( The Talented Mr. Ripley ) and "Evil as Losing the Ability to Act" (Klaus Mann's novel Mephisto ). The book's main draw is chapter eight's 30-odd pages, "Evil as Fanatical Impiety," which take September 11, Oklahoma City and other horrific events as extreme instances of fanaticism. For Koehn, fanaticism is an unhealthy attachment to an idea or cause that takes one away from knowledge of the self and toward some ultimate, unrealizable idealization of moral or civic life. The chapter centers on Plato's dialogue Euthyphro ; the ideology of its eponymous main character bears more than a passing resemblance to that of a young jihadi. For Koehn, understanding "what is holy or just" begins only in "the moment we relinquish our certainty." It's a familiar notion, but this nicely engaged set of readings gives it fresh grounding. (Apr. 16)
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Review
'Evil is a palpable destructive force in our lives. With precision and energy Daryl Koehn unpacks this phenomenon and offers us a shockingly straightforward thesis. Evil, all human suffering, is caused by our narcissistic preoccupation with self and our failure to understand who we are and what we want and need. Koehn claims that we are both the source and victim of our own suffering. This is a must read for every student of the human condition.' - Al Gini, Associate Editor, Business Ethics Quarterly, and author of The Importance of Being Lazy
'Koehn's discussion of literary paradigms is fresh, interesting and beautifully expressed, making one wish all literary criticism were as good as this.' - A. L-S, The Heythrop Journal
About the Author
DARYL KOEHN is professor of Business Ethics, University of St. Thomas, Texas, USA. She is Executive Director at the Center for Business Ethics and was the 2002-2003 President of the Society for Business Ethics. She is the Author/Editor of several books including Rethinking Feminist Ethics.