A Philosophy of Evil

It's normal to be evil, writes Lars Svendsen, in this latest contribution to contemporary philosophy; the problem is, we've lost the vocabulary to talk about it. Despite its overuse in movies, political speeches, and news reports, the word evil is generally seen as either flagrant rhetoric or else an outdated concept: a medieval holdover with no bearing on our complex everyday reality. In A philosophy of Evil, however, acclaimed philosopher Lars Svendsen argues that evil remains a concrete moral problem: that we're all its victims, and all guilty of committing evil acts. Taking up this problem--how do we speak about evil? A Philosophy of Evil treats evil as an ordinary aspect of contemporary life, with implications that are moral, political, and above all, practical. Because, as Svendsen says, Evil should never be justifies, should never be explained away--it should be fought.