Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

Repository | Journal | Volume | Article

145609

Understanding evil acts

Paul Formosa

pp. 57-77

Abstract

Evil acts strike us, by their very nature, as not only horrifying and reprehensible, but also as deeply puzzling. No doubt for reasons like this, evil has often been seen as mysterious, demonic and beyond our human powers of understanding. The question I examine in this paper is whether or not we can (or would want to) overcome this puzzlement in the face of evil acts. I shall argue that we ought want to (in all cases) and can (in at least most cases) come to understand why people perpetrate evil acts. This is an appealing conclusion as it allows us to take practical steps to both minimise future occurrences of evil and come to terms with its past abominations.

Publication details

Published in:

(2007) Human Studies 30 (2).

Pages: 57-77

DOI: 10.1007/s10746-007-9052-y

Full citation:

Formosa Paul (2007) „Understanding evil acts“. Human Studies 30 (2), 57–77.