On the night of 27th January 2015, in the beautiful but not so tranquil university town of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Henri van Breda killed his parents and brother with an axe. His sister somehow managed to survive her wounds. At his trial, van Breda showed no remorse, and refused to take responsibility for his dreadful crimes.
On the 8th of May 2017, a bright philosophy student at Stellenbosch University, Dean Dart, and his comrades, pasted replicas of Hitler Youth posters from the 1930s all over the campus. Since Stellenbosch University was the intellectual cradle of apartheid, the posters were more sinister than the mere childish rantings of an ignorant alt-right teenager. The posters called upon white students to gather, reboot South African fascism, and fight: Sieg Heil.
The list of evil acts in the world goes on and on. Yet ‘evil’ is the most useless of all descriptions of profoundly immoral acts. Although we might start by saying that ‘evil’ is ‘extreme wickedness’, when a person or action is called ‘evil’, that’s no explanation. The description yields no understanding of either the person or the act, and we still have to ask what counts as ‘extreme wickedness’, what doesn’t, and why. ‘Evil’ is a rather empty construct that is used to separate us from what the warlord of Iraq, George W. Bush, liked to call ‘evildoers’. But what is evil, and where are the borders to be drawn concerning what is evil and what is not?
Esta historia es de la edición February/March 2022 de Philosophy Now.
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Esta historia es de la edición February/March 2022 de Philosophy Now.
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Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
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Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
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Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.