Evil in the Western Philosophical Tradition

'The idea of evil is at the centre of a lively philosophical debate, and this book is an important and distinctive contribution, providing a philosophical history of the concept in the western tradition. Ranging from the Christian tradition to the secular, and from philosophical approaches to the psychoanalytical, it provides an in-depth study of the key thinkers who have contributed to the historical roots of this debate.'

Phillip Cole, University of the West of England, Bristol



Analyses the history of Western conceptions of evil, showing it to be remarkably complex, differentiated and contested



Evil has played an important, if subterranean, role in Western philosophical thought. Gavin Rae charts a history of evil revealing the meaning and nature of evil to be remarkably complex, differentiated and contested.



Coverage ranges from early and Medieval Christian philosophy to modern philosophy, German Idealism, post-structuralism and contemporary analytic philosophy, before Rae ties the analysis to the question of secularisation. In so doing, he demonstrates the breadth and depth of thinking on evil by looking at thinkers not normally included in this analysis - Jacques Lacan and Cornelius Castoriadis.



Evil in the Western Philosophical Tradition will be of interest to anyone working in ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of religion and the history of philosophy.



Gavin Rae is Conex Marie Sklodowska-Curie Experienced Research Fellow at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain.



Cover image: The triumph of Christ and Satan bound for thousand years. Illumination, Dutch, 1450 © akg-images



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ISBN 978-1-4744-4532-0

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