Minding Evil: Explorations of Human Iniquity

by Margaret Sönser Breen (Editor)

Minding Explorations of Human Iniquity brings together fifteen essays, versions of which were presented at the Fifth International Conference on Evil and Wickedness, held in Prague in 2004. The volume examines evil and wickedness from a variety of disciplines, including criminology, cultural studies, gender studies, law, literature, peace studies, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. In so doing Minding Evil keeps in play the doubled meaning of its on the one hand, to tend to evil, that is, to oversee, cultivate, and deploy it; on the other hand, to be bothered by evil and so, in learning to identify or recognise it, to try to understand its workings and thus contain or control it and, perhaps, repair or undo it. While the essays taken together work to show the difficulty and at times the travesty of not being able to distinguish between the two meanings, it is this second meaning that remains key. What are the individual and collective responsibilities entailed in minding - being troubled by - evil? This is the central question of this volume. Preface Part Groups, Activism, and the Tools of Ethnic Cleansing Frank FAULKNER and Graeme R. No Place Like The Role of Landmines in Ethnic Cleansing in the Twentieth Century Mark BURGESS, Neil FERGUSON, and Ian A Social Psychology of From Discontent to Action Haijing Dichotomous Thinking and Culture of Revisiting Youth Activism in China during the May Fourth Period Part Laws, Prisons, and Damaged People Samuel H. Speaking the Language of Evil Diana The Unbearable Brutality of Casual Cruelty in Prison and What This Tells Us About Who We Really Are Wayne A Logic of Evil Part Evil and the Arts Ted Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Reflections on the Necessary Evils of 24 Vera B. The Devil’s The Case of Dr. Emmenberger in Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Der Verdacht Elizabeth The Evil of The Destructive Aesthetic in the Figure of the Romantic Artist Part Evil, Despair, and Distorted Realities Margaret SÖNSER The Evils of [Same] The U.S. Gay Marriage Debate Annette Inside Out and Outside Constructions of Evil in Contemporary British Drama Karen D. Evil and Despairing A Kierkegaardian Account Part Individuals, Groups, and Evil Actions Gideon Relationality and Judging Bystanders Stephen Harm and Transgression in International Criminal Justice William Andrew Individual and Collective Responsibility for Wrongs of the Past Notes on Contributors

294 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005