Narrating Evil

Narrating Evil
Title Narrating Evil PDF eBook
Author Maria Pia Lara
Publisher Columbia University Press
Pages 245
Release 2007-04-19
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 0231511663

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Conceptions of evil have changed dramatically over time, and though humans continue to commit acts of cruelty against one another, today we possess a clearer, more moral way of analyzing them. In Narrating Evil, María Pía Lara explores what has changed in our understanding of evil, why the transformation matters, and how we can learn from this specific historical development. Drawing on Immanuel Kant's and Hannah Arendt's ideas about reflective judgment, Lara argues that narrative plays a key role in helping societies acknowledge their pasts. Particular stories haunt our consciousness and lead to a kind of examination and dialogue that shape notions of morality. A powerful description of a crime can act as a filter, helping us to draw conclusions about what constitutes a moral wrong, and public debates over these narratives allow us to construct a more accurate picture of historical truth, leading to a better understanding of why such actions are possible. In building her argument, Lara considers Greek tragedies, Shakespeare's depictions of evil, Joseph Conrad's literary metaphors, and movies that portray human cruelty. Turning to such philosophers and writers as Jürgen Habermas, Walter Benjamin, Primo Levi, Giorgio Agamben, and Ariel Dorfman, Lara defines a reflexive relationship between an event, the narrative of the event, and the public reception of the narrative, and she proves that the stories of perpetrators and sufferers are always intertwined. The process of disclosure, debate, and the public fashioning of collective judgment are vital methods through which we make sense not only of new forms of cruelty but of past crimes as well. Narrating Evil describes the steps of this process and why they are a crucial part of our attempt to build a different, more just world.

Rethinking Evil

Rethinking Evil
Title Rethinking Evil PDF eBook
Author María Pía Lara
Publisher Univ of California Press
Pages 320
Release 2001-11-30
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 9780520226340

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This text examines evil in the context of a post-metaphysical world, a world that no longer believes in a God. The question of how and why God permits evil events to occur is replaced by the question of how and why humans perform evil acts.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Title Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil PDF eBook
Author John Berendt
Publisher Random House
Pages 417
Release 1994-01-13
Genre True Crime
ISBN 0679429220

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city—now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author “Elegant and wicked . . . might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.”—The New York Times Book Review Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. In this sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative, John Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young people dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience.

Narrating the Beginnings

Narrating the Beginnings
Title Narrating the Beginnings PDF eBook
Author Alberto Bernabé Pajares
Publisher Springer Nature
Pages 200
Release 2021-04-02
Genre History
ISBN 3658321849

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The present book is a compilation of studies on narratives of mythical origins in different cultures written by outstanding specialists. It aims to provide a broad view on creation-myths from different times and areas of the world with a particular focus on how these texts contributed to the conception of the past as “universal history”, as a common origin of mankind or as the great opening, the theatrum mundi. On the other hand, the purpose of this book is to study the phenomenon from a typological point of view, analyzing the specific characteristics of this particular type of texts, rather than finding influences between the different cultures in the genesis of these narratives.

Radical Evil and the Scarcity of Hope

Radical Evil and the Scarcity of Hope
Title Radical Evil and the Scarcity of Hope PDF eBook
Author Martin Beck Matuštík
Publisher Indiana University Press
Pages 314
Release 2008-04-16
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 025321968X

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Matustík presents a bold new way of dealing with one of humanity's most intractable problems.

Evil after Postmodernism

Evil after Postmodernism
Title Evil after Postmodernism PDF eBook
Author Jennifer Geddes
Publisher Routledge
Pages 134
Release 2013-01-11
Genre Religion
ISBN 1135127190

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These six essays form a stimulating and lucid investigation of the meaning of evil in the light of postmodern thought, and of the cultural and social changes of the modern age. They consider subjects such as the war in Bosnia, AIDS, and the Holocaust.

Thomas Aquinas on Moral Wrongdoing

Thomas Aquinas on Moral Wrongdoing
Title Thomas Aquinas on Moral Wrongdoing PDF eBook
Author Colleen McCluskey
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Pages 213
Release 2017
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 1107175275

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A comprehensive examination of the moral psychology of wrongdoing from a major historical figure, Thomas Aquinas.