12| The Philosophy of Evil — with David Bather Woods

Common Room Philosophy

This episode is an interview/discussion with David Bather Woods. David is an assistant professor in the University of Warwick's philosophy department, and a previous guest of this podcast.

In this episode, we discuss various questions about evil and evil-doers, including:

- Do you have to be free to be evil?

- If we aim to understand evil-doers, do we risk forgiving them?

- If our situations were different, could we all do evil things?

- What makes an evil act evil, rather than just very bad?

Some links:

- David's popular episode on Schopenhauer

Books David recommended:

- Being Evil: a philosophical perspective by Luke Russell

- Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil by Hannah Arendt

- At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Survivor on Auschwitz and Its Realities by John Améry

- Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy by Susan Neiman

- The Atrocity Paradigm: A Theory of Evil by Claudia Card

- Evil: A History edited by Andrew P. Chignell

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