Modernity and the Problem of Evil

What motivates human beings to do evil? Is evil simply the sheer perverse desire to do harm or wrong? Can evil be explained or made intelligible, or does it resist all efforts at comprehension? What atrocities are human beings capable of, and what might God allow to occur? Alan D. Schrift and the contributors to this engaging and lively volume explore evil from a postmodern perspective. While giving particular attention to modern evils such as the Holocaust, South African apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, and the events of September 11, 2001, the essays collected here cover broad philosophical and religious ground as they illustrate how society deals with evil. Readers will find new ways to think about the concept of evil and discover new tools for sorting out the moral and ethical issues surrounding evil in today’s world.

The contributors are Debra B. Bergoffen, Tina Chanter, William E. Connolly, Peter Dews, Martin Beck Matustík, William L. McBride, Robert Meister, Adi Ophir, Robert B. Pippin, Alan D. Schrift, Henry Staten, and Edith Wyschogrod.

What motivates human beings to do evil? Is evil simply the sheer perverse desire to do harm or wrong? Can evil be explained or made intelligible, or does it resist all efforts at comprehension? What atrocities are human beings capable of, and what might God allow to occur? Alan D. Schrift and the contributors to this engaging and lively volume explore evil from a postmodern perspective. While giving particular attention to modern evils such as the Holocaust, South African apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, and the events of September 11, 2001, the essays collected here cover broad philosophical and religious ground as they illustrate how society deals with evil. Readers will find new ways to think about the concept of evil and discover new tools for sorting out the moral and ethical issues surrounding evil in today's world.

The contributors are Debra B. Bergoffen, Tina Chanter, William E. Connolly, Peter Dews, Martin Beck Matustík, William L. McBride, Robert Meister, Adi Ophir, Robert B. Pippin, Alan D. Schrift, Henry Staten, and Edith Wyschogrod.

Alan D. Schrift, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for the Humanities at Grinnell College, is author of Nietzsche's French Legacy: A Genealogy of Poststructuralism.