Taking Evil Seriously

While moral philosophy has traditionally been understood as an examination of the good life, this book argues that ethical inquiry should, rather, begin from an examination of evil and other 'negative' moral concepts, such as guilt and suffering. While moral philosophy has traditionally been understood as a 'positive' examination of the good life, this book argues that ethical inquiry should, rather, begin from an examination of evil and other 'negative' moral concepts, such as guilt and suffering. Evil is a shockingly real feature of the world we live in; it cannot be explained away or justified in terms of any theodicy, either religious or secular. The book draws on the tradition of pragmatism, particularly William James, in developing this anti-theodicist argument for taking evil seriously. James's pragmatist approach is critically compared to some other philosophical thematizations of fundamental ethical issues, including Wittgensteinian moral philosophy and Hans Jonas's post-Holocaust ethics. The pragmatic method itself is rearticulated as a philosophical method focusing on negativities such as evil and as a version of post-Kantian transcendental inquiry dealing with the necessary conditions for the possibility of morality Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 1 Evil and Negativity: Sharpening the Pragmatic Method 21 2 The Moral Luck, Reward, and Punishment of a Sick Soul 54 3 A Suffering God and Post-Holocaust Pragmatism 90 4 A Metaphilosophical Conclusion 111 Bibliography 133 Index 142 Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction....Pages 1-11 Evil and Negativity: Sharpening the Pragmatic Method....Pages 12-44 The Moral Luck, Reward, and Punishment of a Sick Soul....Pages 45-80 A Suffering God and Post-Holocaust Pragmatism....Pages 81-101 A Metaphilosophical Conclusion....Pages 102-123 Back Matter....Pages 124-139