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Evil in Modern Thought : An Alternative History of Philosophy by Susan Neiman (2002, Hardcover)

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Product Identifiers

PublisherPrinceton University Press

ISBN-100691096082

ISBN-139780691096087

eBay Product ID (ePID)2333550

Product Key Features

Number of Pages376 Pages

Publication NameEvil in Modern Thought : an Alternative History of Philosophy

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2002

SubjectEthics & Moral Philosophy, History & Surveys / Modern, Good & Evil

FeaturesRevised

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaPhilosophy

AuthorSusan Neiman

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Weight25 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceCollege Audience

LCCN2002-070374

Dewey Edition23

ReviewsWinner of the 2002 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Philosophy, Association of American Publishers, "Neiman argues that when we ask why the world is the way it is, rather than the way it ought to be, that's the same as thinking about evil. . . . If there is only a single standard of good behavior, then no matter how honestly we believe in our causes--in democracy, for instance, as opposed to tyranny or religious totalitarianism--we are never allowed to stop worrying about our own morality when we march forth to defend them." --Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review, "Neiman's narrative . . . sheds light not just on the writings of particular thinkers, but also on their relation to one another. And it helps us begin to understand certain facts about the modern period that current philosophers find baffling."-- Thomas Hibbs, The Weekly Standard, Evil has become the subject of one book after another, but [this] is one book unlike any other - by a philosopher unlike any other. ---Bill Moyers, NOW, Eloquent... [Neiman argues that] evil is not just an ethical violation, it disrupts and challenges our interpretation of the world., "Neiman's book is written with considerable flair, as many critics have already noted, but it possesses a far rarer and more valuable quality: moral seriousness. Her argument builds a powerful emotional force, a sense of deep inevitability. . . . It is not often that a work of such dark conclusions has felt so hopeful and brave."-- Mark Kingwell, Wilson Quarterly, "The American philosopher Susan Neiman has written the book for this world-political hour."-- Neue Züricher Zeitung, We badly need alternative histories of philosophy. The story told (by me, among others) cries out for supplementation. . . . Neiman's snazzy prose makes this book a pleasure to read, as well as an immensely welcome change from the sort of history of philosophy to which we have become accustomed., An erudite and compelling intellectual treatise that is profoundly interesting, often witty, and constructed without resorting to jargon or obfuscation. . . . In reorienting the history of philosophy, she has made it come alive. . . . This is a fine, even elegant book., "Neiman's narrative . . . sheds light not just on the writings of particular thinkers, but also on their relation to one another. And it helps us begin to understand certain facts about the modern period that current philosophers find baffling." ---Thomas Hibbs, The Weekly Standard, "In tracing the responses to the problem of evil from the Enlightenment, when the question was why the Lisbon earthquake and the engagés were Voltaire, Leibniz, Pope, and Rousseau, to the present, when it is why Auschwitz and they are Améry, Arendt, Camus, and Adorno, Neiman has made an original and powerful contribution to the analysis of an intractable moral issue: how to live with the fact that neither God nor nature seems concerned with our fate. Succinctly, steadily, and relentlessly written, the history of philosophy as philosophy could hardly be better done." --Clifford Geertz, "Neiman follows the argument like a sleuth, and, indeed, her book is a kind of thriller: What is it that menaces us? Will we find what evil is? And how may we escape it? The path leads from a God found absent past a Nature that's indifferent till it fetches up at the house of a man himself. . . . Neiman leads the reader through a careful analysis of the relation of intention, act, and consequence to kinds of useful knowledge and degrees of awareness." ---William H. Gass, Harper's Magazine, "Clear, elegant and inviting...suddenly, (philosophy) is again a matter of life and death."-- Die Welt, Winner of the 2002 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Philosophy, Association of American Publishers Winner of the 2003 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, American Academy of Religion One of Choice 's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2003, "This is a splendid book; it will be widely read and much discussed. Working from the assumption that philosophers ought to attend to 'the questions that brought us here,' Susan Neiman has given us a brilliant reading of those who have done just that. Her history of philosophy is also a philosophical argument: that evil is the central question driving the best modern philosophy, and that it is not only a moral question but a metaphysical one. The book is written with grace and wit; again and again, Neiman writes the kind of sentences we dream of uttering in the perfect conversation: where every mot is bon. This is exemplary philosophy." --Michael Walzer, Neiman's book is written with considerable flair, as many critics have already noted, but it possesses a far rarer and more valuable quality: moral seriousness. Her argument builds a powerful emotional force, a sense of deep inevitability. . . . It is not often that a work of such dark conclusions has felt so hopeful and brave., Neiman argues that, confronted with the enormity of the Holocaust, 20th-century thinkers found new grounds to conclude that what we call evil reflects nothing so much as the unintelligibility of the world. . . . [Her] conclusion is that we should neither abandon reason nor demand the impossible from it but rather rely on it as much as we can to identify the forms of suffering and acts of cruelty that we have the power to prevent, remedy or diminish. ---Peter Berkowitz, Washington Post Book World, Neiman argues that when we ask why the world is the way it is, rather than the way it ought to be, that's the same as thinking about evil. . . . If there is only a single standard of good behavior, then no matter how honestly we believe in our causes--in democracy, for instance, as opposed to tyranny or religious totalitarianism--we are never allowed to stop worrying about our own morality when we march forth to defend them. ---Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review, "Neiman argues that, confronted with the enormity of the Holocaust, 20th-century thinkers found new grounds to conclude that what we call evil reflects nothing so much as the unintelligibility of the world. . . . [Her] conclusion is that we should neither abandon reason nor demand the impossible from it but rather rely on it as much as we can to identify the forms of suffering and acts of cruelty that we have the power to prevent, remedy or diminish." ---Peter Berkowitz, Washington Post Book World, "An erudite and compelling intellectual treatise that is profoundly interesting, often witty, and constructed without resorting to jargon or obfuscation. . . . In reorienting the history of philosophy, she has made it come alive. . . . This is a fine, even elegant book." -- Choice, Neiman's audacity and occasionally morbid wit are a welcome addition to contemporary philosophy. If there is any hope after Auschwitz, we may find it in the fact that human minds will not stop trying to make some kind of meaning out of it., Neiman's narrative . . . sheds light not just on the writings of particular thinkers, but also on their relation to one another. And it helps us begin to understand certain facts about the modern period that current philosophers find baffling. ---Thomas Hibbs, The Weekly Standard, "Neiman's book is written with considerable flair, as many critics have already noted, but it possesses a far rarer and more valuable quality: moral seriousness. Her argument builds a powerful emotional force, a sense of deep inevitability. . . . It is not often that a work of such dark conclusions has felt so hopeful and brave." --Mark Kingwell, Wilson Quarterly, "A brilliant study of changes in our understanding of evil from the book of Job through the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and on to the Holocaust and September 11. Neiman makes a powerful case for taking that problem as central to the history of modern philosophy, and her analysis of our present resources for coping with evil are provocative as well as profound. It's an immensely illuminating book." --J. B. Schneewind, "A brilliant new book. . . . No summary can convey the intellectual firepower of Neiman's book. Within her field of interest, she seems not only to have read everything but to have understood it at the deepest level."-- William C. Placher, Christian Century, "A brilliant new book. . . . No summary can convey the intellectual firepower of Neiman's book. Within her field of interest, she seems not only to have read everything but to have understood it at the deepest level." ---William C. Placher, Christian Century, "We badly need alternative histories of philosophy. The story told (by me, among others) cries out for supplementation. . . . Neiman's snazzy prose makes this book a pleasure to read, as well as an immensely welcome change from the sort of history of philosophy to which we have become accustomed."-- Richard Rorty, Common Knowledge, "Neiman's audacity and occasionally morbid wit are a welcome addition to contemporary philosophy. If there is any hope after Auschwitz, we may find it in the fact that human minds will not stop trying to make some kind of meaning out of it."-- Alan Wolfe, Books & Culture, "Neiman's narrative . . . sheds light not just on the writings of particular thinkers, but also on their relation to one another. And it helps us begin to understand certain facts about the modern period that current philosophers find baffling." --Thomas Hibbs, The Weekly Standard, Evil has become the subject of one book after another, but [this] is one book unlike any other - by a philosopher unlike any other., "The American philosopher Susan Neiman has written the book for this world-political hour."-- Neue Zricher Zeitung, "Even--or especially--to a nonphilosopher like myself, Susan Neiman's Evil in Modern Thought offers intellectual adventure of a high order. The audacity of her recasting of Western philosophy is matched by its profundity--and frequent wit. Its challenges are as bracing as they are essential. Her intellectual fearlessness deserves the closest and widest attention." --Todd Gitlin, "The American philosopher Susan Neiman has written the book for this world-political hour." -- Neue Züricher Zeitung, "Neiman's book is a welcome contribution to a philosophical conversation too long neglected." --Barry Allen, Toronto Globe and Mail, We badly need alternative histories of philosophy. The story told (by me, among others) cries out for supplementation. . . . Neiman's snazzy prose makes this book a pleasure to read, as well as an immensely welcome change from the sort of history of philosophy to which we have become accustomed. ---Richard Rorty, Common Knowledge, "Eloquent... [Neiman argues that] evil is not just an ethical violation, it disrupts and challenges our interpretation of the world."-- Edward Rothstein, The New York Times, This is an accessible work of philosophy in the best sense, sharply focused on matters of vital human concern and free of the domain tics that mar even allegedly popular works by Anglo-American philosophers., "Clear, elegant and inviting...suddenly, (philosophy) is again a matter of life and death." -- Die Welt, "Evil has become the subject of one book after another, but [this] is one book unlike any other - by a philosopher unlike any other." --Bill Moyers, NOW, "Neiman argues that, confronted with the enormity of the Holocaust, 20th-century thinkers found new grounds to conclude that what we call evil reflects nothing so much as the unintelligibility of the world. . . . [Her] conclusion is that we should neither abandon reason nor demand the impossible from it but rather rely on it as much as we can to identify the forms of suffering and acts of cruelty that we have the power to prevent, remedy or diminish." --Peter Berkowitz, Washington Post Book World, "Neiman follows the argument like a sleuth, and, indeed, her book is a kind of thriller: What is it that menaces us? Will we find what evil is? And how may we escape it? The path leads from a God found absent past a Nature that's indifferent till it fetches up at the house of a man himself. . . . Neiman leads the reader through a careful analysis of the relation of intention, act, and consequence to kinds of useful knowledge and degrees of awareness."-- William H. Gass, Harper's Magazine, This is an accessible work of philosophy in the best sense, sharply focused on matters of vital human concern and free of the domain tics that mar even allegedly popular works by Anglo-American philosophers. ---Mark Lilla, The New York Review of Books, "Neiman's book is a welcome contribution to a philosophical conversation too long neglected." ---Barry Allen, Toronto Globe and Mail, "This is an accessible work of philosophy in the best sense, sharply focused on matters of vital human concern and free of the domain tics that mar even allegedly popular works by Anglo-American philosophers."-- Mark Lilla, The New York Review of Books, Eloquent... [Neiman argues that] evil is not just an ethical violation, it disrupts and challenges our interpretation of the world. ---Edward Rothstein, The New York Times, "Neiman argues that when we ask why the world is the way it is, rather than the way it ought to be, that's the same as thinking about evil. . . . If there is only a single standard of good behavior, then no matter how honestly we believe in our causes--in democracy, for instance, as opposed to tyranny or religious totalitarianism--we are never allowed to stop worrying about our own morality when we march forth to defend them." ---Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review, A brilliant new book. . . . No summary can convey the intellectual firepower of Neiman's book. Within her field of interest, she seems not only to have read everything but to have understood it at the deepest level., "A brilliant new book. . . . No summary can convey the intellectual firepower of Neiman's book. Within her field of interest, she seems not only to have read everything but to have understood it at the deepest level." --William C. Placher, Christian Century, "Neiman's audacity and occasionally morbid wit are a welcome addition to contemporary philosophy. If there is any hope after Auschwitz, we may find it in the fact that human minds will not stop trying to make some kind of meaning out of it." --Alan Wolfe, Books & Culture, "This is an accessible work of philosophy in the best sense, sharply focused on matters of vital human concern and free of the domain tics that mar even allegedly popular works by Anglo-American philosophers." --Mark Lilla, The New York Review of Books, "We badly need alternative histories of philosophy. The story told (by me, among others) cries out for supplementation. . . . Neiman's snazzy prose makes this book a pleasure to read, as well as an immensely welcome change from the sort of history of philosophy to which we have become accustomed." ---Richard Rorty, Common Knowledge, Neiman argues that, confronted with the enormity of the Holocaust, 20th-century thinkers found new grounds to conclude that what we call evil reflects nothing so much as the unintelligibility of the world. . . . [Her] conclusion is that we should neither abandon reason nor demand the impossible from it but rather rely on it as much as we can to identify the forms of suffering and acts of cruelty that we have the power to prevent, remedy or diminish., "We badly need alternative histories of philosophy. The story told (by me, among others) cries out for supplementation. . . . Neiman's snazzy prose makes this book a pleasure to read, as well as an immensely welcome change from the sort of history of philosophy to which we have become accustomed." --Richard Rorty, Common Knowledge, "Scintillating and self-disciplined - a very rare thing in a philosopher."-- Jonathan Ree, Times Literary Supplement, Neiman's narrative . . . sheds light not just on the writings of particular thinkers, but also on their relation to one another. And it helps us begin to understand certain facts about the modern period that current philosophers find baffling., "Superb... Neiman's claim to have written an alternative history is not an empty boast."-- First Things, Scintillating and self-disciplined - a very rare thing in a philosopher. ---Jonathan Ree, Times Literary Supplement, "Evil has become the subject of one book after another, but [this] is one book unlike any other - by a philosopher unlike any other." ---Bill Moyers, NOW, "Neiman's audacity and occasionally morbid wit are a welcome addition to contemporary philosophy. If there is any hope after Auschwitz, we may find it in the fact that human minds will not stop trying to make some kind of meaning out of it." ---Alan Wolfe, Books & Culture, "Neiman's book is written with considerable flair, as many critics have already noted, but it possesses a far rarer and more valuable quality: moral seriousness. Her argument builds a powerful emotional force, a sense of deep inevitability. . . . It is not often that a work of such dark conclusions has felt so hopeful and brave." ---Mark Kingwell, Wilson Quarterly, "Scintillating and self-disciplined - a very rare thing in a philosopher." ---Jonathan Ree, Times Literary Supplement, "Neiman argues that, confronted with the enormity of the Holocaust, 20th-century thinkers found new grounds to conclude that what we call evil reflects nothing so much as the unintelligibility of the world. . . . [Her] conclusion is that we should neither abandon reason nor demand the impossible from it but rather rely on it as much as we can to identify the forms of suffering and acts of cruelty that we have the power to prevent, remedy or diminish."-- Peter Berkowitz, Washington Post Book World, "This is an accessible work of philosophy in the best sense, sharply focused on matters of vital human concern and free of the domain tics that mar even allegedly popular works by Anglo-American philosophers." ---Mark Lilla, The New York Review of Books, A brilliant new book. . . . No summary can convey the intellectual firepower of Neiman's book. Within her field of interest, she seems not only to have read everything but to have understood it at the deepest level. ---William C. Placher, Christian Century, Neiman follows the argument like a sleuth, and, indeed, her book is a kind of thriller: What is it that menaces us? Will we find what evil is? And how may we escape it? The path leads from a God found absent past a Nature that's indifferent till it fetches up at the house of a man himself. . . . Neiman leads the reader through a careful analysis of the relation of intention, act, and consequence to kinds of useful knowledge and degrees of awareness., "Superb... Neiman's claim to have written an alternative history is not an empty boast." -- First Things, Neiman's audacity and occasionally morbid wit are a welcome addition to contemporary philosophy. If there is any hope after Auschwitz, we may find it in the fact that human minds will not stop trying to make some kind of meaning out of it. ---Alan Wolfe, Books & Culture, "Evil has become the subject of one book after another, but [this] is one book unlike any other - by a philosopher unlike any other."-- Bill Moyers, NOW, "Eloquent... [Neiman argues that] evil is not just an ethical violation, it disrupts and challenges our interpretation of the world." ---Edward Rothstein, The New York Times, Neiman argues that when we ask why the world is the way it is, rather than the way it ought to be, that¹s the same as thinking about evil. . . . If there is only a single standard of good behavior, then no matter how honestly we believe in our causes--in democracy, for instance, as opposed to tyranny or religious totalitarianism--we are never allowed to stop worrying about our own morality when we march forth to defend them., "Neiman's book is a welcome contribution to a philosophical conversation too long neglected."-- Barry Allen, Toronto Globe and Mail, Neiman follows the argument like a sleuth, and, indeed, her book is a kind of thriller: What is it that menaces us? Will we find what evil is? And how may we escape it? The path leads from a God found absent past a Nature that's indifferent till it fetches up at the house of a man himself. . . . Neiman leads the reader through a careful analysis of the relation of intention, act, and consequence to kinds of useful knowledge and degrees of awareness. ---William H. Gass, Harper's Magazine, "Scintillating and self-disciplined - a very rare thing in a philosopher." --Jonathan Ree, Times Literary Supplement, Neiman's book is a welcome contribution to a philosophical conversation too long neglected. ---Barry Allen, Toronto Globe and Mail, "Eloquent... [Neiman argues that] evil is not just an ethical violation, it disrupts and challenges our interpretation of the world." --Edward Rothstein, The New York Times, Neiman's book is written with considerable flair, as many critics have already noted, but it possesses a far rarer and more valuable quality: moral seriousness. Her argument builds a powerful emotional force, a sense of deep inevitability. . . . It is not often that a work of such dark conclusions has felt so hopeful and brave. ---Mark Kingwell, Wilson Quarterly, "An erudite and compelling intellectual treatise that is profoundly interesting, often witty, and constructed without resorting to jargon or obfuscation. . . . In reorienting the history of philosophy, she has made it come alive. . . . This is a fine, even elegant book."-- Choice, "Neiman argues that when we ask why the world is the way it is, rather than the way it ought to be, that's the same as thinking about evil. . . . If there is only a single standard of good behavior, then no matter how honestly we believe in our causes--in democracy, for instance, as opposed to tyranny or religious totalitarianism--we are never allowed to stop worrying about our own morality when we march forth to defend them."-- Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review, "Neiman follows the argument like a sleuth, and, indeed, her book is a kind of thriller: What is it that menaces us? Will we find what evil is? And how may we escape it? The path leads from a God found absent past a Nature that's indifferent till it fetches up at the house of a man himself. . . . Neiman leads the reader through a careful analysis of the relation of intention, act, and consequence to kinds of useful knowledge and degrees of awareness." --William H. Gass, Harper's Magazine

Dewey Decimal170

Edition DescriptionRevised edition

Table Of ContentAcknowledgments xi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: FIRE FROM HEAVEN 14 God's Advocates: Leibniz and Pope 18 Newton of the Mind: Jean-Jacques Rousse u 36 Divided Wisdom: Immanuel Kant 57 Real and Rational: Hegel and Marx 84 In Conclusion 109 CHAPTER TWO: CONDEMNING THE ARCHITECT 113 Raw Material: Bayle's Dictionary 116 Voltaire's Destinies 128 The Impotence of Reason: David Hume 148 End of the Tunnel: The Marquis de Sade 170 Schopenhauer: The World as Tribun l 196 CHAPTER THREE: ENDS OF AN ILLUSION 203 Eternal Choices: Nietzsche on Redemption 206 On Consolation: Freud vs. Providence 227 CHAPTER FOUR: HOMELESS 238 Earthquakes: Why Lisbon? 240 Mass Murders: Why Auschwitz? 250 Losses: Ending Modern Theodicies 258 Intentions: Meaning and Malice 267 Terror: After September 11 281 Remains: Camus, Arendt, Critical Theory, Rawls 288 Origins: Sufficient Reason 314 Notes 329 Bibliography 337 Index 345

SynopsisEvil threatens human reason, for it challenges our hope that the world makes sense. For eighteenth-century Europeans, the Lisbon earthquake was manifest evil. Today we view evil as a matter of human cruelty, and Auschwitz as its extreme incarnation. Examining our understanding of evil from the Inquisition to contemporary terrorism, Susan Neiman explores who we have become in the three centuries that separate us from the early Enlightenment. In the process, she rewrites the history of modern thought and points philosophy back to the questions that originally animated it. Whether expressed in theological or secular terms, evil poses a problem about the world's intelligibility. It confronts philosophy with fundamental questions: Can there be meaning in a world where innocents suffer? Can belief in divine power or human progress survive a cataloging of evil? Is evil profound or banal? Neiman argues that these questions impelled modern philosophy. Traditional philosophers from Leibniz to Hegel sought to defend the Creator of a world containing evil. Inevitably, their efforts--combined with those of more literary figures like Pope, Voltaire, and the Marquis de Sade--eroded belief in God's benevolence, power, and relevance, until Nietzsche claimed He had been murdered. They also yielded the distinction between natural and moral evil that we now take for granted. Neiman turns to consider philosophy's response to the Holocaust as a final moral evil, concluding that two basic stances run through modern thought. One, from Rousseau to Arendt, insists that morality demands we make evil intelligible. The other, from Voltaire to Adorno, insists that morality demands that we don't. Beautifully written and thoroughly engaging, this book tells the history of modern philosophy as an attempt to come to terms with evil. It reintroduces philosophy to anyone interested in questions of life and death, good and evil, suffering and sense.

LC Classification NumberBJ1401.N45 2002