Evil and Human Agency Understanding Collective Evildoing [Paperback]

This 2005 book investigates why and in what sort of circumstances evil desire arises, and how it is channeled into collective evildoing.In this provocative and original approach to understanding evil, Professor Vetlesen investigates why and in what sort of circumstances such a desire arises, and how it is channeled, or exploited, into what he calls collective evildoing. A philosophical approach inspired by Hannah Arendt, a psychological approach inspired by C. Fred Alford and a sociological approach inspired by Zygmunt Bauman is brought to bear on the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. Here, Vetlesen shows how closely perpetrators, victims, and bystanders interact. An important book with wide appeal.In this provocative and original approach to understanding evil, Professor Vetlesen investigates why and in what sort of circumstances such a desire arises, and how it is channeled, or exploited, into what he calls collective evildoing. A philosophical approach inspired by Hannah Arendt, a psychological approach inspired by C. Fred Alford and a sociological approach inspired by Zygmunt Bauman is brought to bear on the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. Here, Vetlesen shows how closely perpetrators, victims, and bystanders interact. An important book with wide appeal.Arne Johan Vetlesen argues that to do evil is to intentionally inflict pain on another human being, against his or her will, and cause serious and foreseeable harm. Vetlesen investigates why and in what sort of circumstances such a desire arises, and how it is channeled, or exploited, into collective evildoing. He argues that such evildoing, pitting whole groups against each other, springs from a combination of character, situation, and social structure. Vetlesen shows how closely perpetrators, victims, and bystanders interact, and how aspects of human agency are recognized, denied, and projected by different agents.1. The ordinariness of modern evildoers: a critiqulÃq