恐ろしく悲惨な悪事を耳目にしたとき私たちは「悪」という言葉を思い浮かべます。悪は神話や幻想であるとの考え方がある一方、悪は現実であり現代の世俗的倫理観の下では重要な役割を果たす概念だとの見方も存在します。悪は普遍的か、理解不能か。悪人を隔てる特別な心理的特質はあるのか。悪行の背景にある心理を分析し、精神病質と共感に関する現在の議論も吟味します。悪の哲学的問題に対するさまざまな見方を検討する一冊です。
 

• Explores the philosophical thinking and psychological evidence behind evil
• Engages with famous examples of evildoers including serial killers, terrorists, and war criminals, as well as examples from fiction
• Gives a systematic overview of the various kinds of extreme wrongdoing, and considers the cores questions when thinking about evil

    
We regularly encounter appalling wrongdoing, with the media offering a depressing parade of violent assault, rape, and murder. Yet sometimes even the cynical and world-weary amongst us are taken aback. Sometimes we confront a crime so terrible, so horrendous, so deeply wrong, that we reach for the word 'evil'. The 9/11 terrorist attacks were not merely wrong, but evil. A serial killer who tortures his victims is not merely a bad person. He is evil. And as the Holocaust showed us, we must remain vigilant against the threat of evil. But what exactly is evil? If we use the word 'evil', are we buying into a naive Manichean worldview, in which two cosmic forces of good and evil are pitted against one another? Are we guilty of demonizing our enemies? How does 'evil' go beyond what is merely bad or wrong?

This Very Short Introduction explores the answers that philosophers have offered to these questions. Luke Russell discusses why some philosophers think that evil is a myth or a fantasy, while others think that evil is real, and is a concept which plays an important role in contemporary secular morality. Along the way he asks whether evil is always horrific and incomprehensible, or if it can be banal. Considering if there is a special psychological hallmark that sets the evildoers apart from the rest of us, Russell also engages with ongoing discussions over psychopathy and empathy, analysing the psychology behind evildoing.