Apologetics of Evil
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A. C. Bradley
A01=Richard Raatzsch
Absurdity
Ambiguity
Apologetics
Arbitrariness
Author
Author_Richard Raatzsch
Awareness
Ben Jonson
Bertolt Brecht
Category=DSBD
Category=DSG
Category=QDTQ
Censure
Character (arts)
Consciousness
Consideration
Contingency (philosophy)
Criticism
Dasein
Deed
Embodiment of Evil
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Ethics and Language
Evocation
Explanation
Explanatory power
Family resemblance
Good and evil
Humour
I Wish (manhwa)
Iago
Immorality
Indication (medicine)
Invention
Irony
J. O. Urmson
Lament
Leontes
Love's Labour's Lost
Meister Eckhart
Modern Moral Philosophy
Morality
Mutatis mutandis
Omnipotence
Ostensive definition
Parody
Paternalism
Perversion
Philosopher
Philosophical Investigations
Philosophy
Platitude
Public morality
Raymond Geuss
Reductionism
Roderigo
Self-affirmation
Self-interest
Shakespearean tragedy
Skepticism
Stanley Cavell
Stephen Greenblatt
Stupidity
Symptom
The Misunderstanding
The Other Hand
Theory
Thought
Trickster
Tuberculosis
Uncanny
V.
Vagueness
W. D. Ross
Product details
- ISBN 9780691137339
- Weight: 28g
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 26 Jul 2009
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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This book is a concise philosophical meditation on Iago and the nature of evil, through the exploration of the enduring puzzle found in Shakespeare's Othello. What drives Iago to orchestrate Othello's downfall? Instead of treating Iago's lack of motive as the play's greatest weakness, The Apologetics of Evil shows how this absence of motive is the play's greatest strength. Richard Raatzsch determines that Iago does not seek a particular end or revenge for a discrete wrong; instead, Iago is governed by a passion for intriguing in itself. Raatzsch explains that this passion is a pathological version of ordinary human behavior and that Iago lacks the ability to acknowledge others; what matters most to him is the difference between himself and the rest of the world. The book opens with a portrait of Iago, and considers the nature and moral significance of the evil that he represents. Raatzsch addresses the boundaries dividing normality and pathology, conceptualizing evil as a pathological form of the good or ordinary. Seen this way, evil is conceptually dependent on the ordinary, and Iago, as a form of moral monster, is a kind of nonbeing.
Therefore, his actions might be understood and defended, even if they cannot be justified. In a brief epilogue, Raatzsch argues that literature's presentation of what is monstrous or virtuous can constitute an understanding of these concepts, not merely illustrate them.
Richard Raatzsch holds the chair for practical philosophy at the European Business School in Wiesbaden, Germany.
