Evil and Human Agency: Understanding Collective Evildoing PDF
Preview Evil and Human Agency: Understanding Collective Evildoing
This page intentionally left blank Evil and Human Agency Evilisapoorlyunderstoodphenomenon.Inthisprovo- cative and original approach to evil, Professor Vetlesen argues that to do evil is to inflict pain intentionally on anotherhumanbeing,againsthisorherwill,andcausing serious and foreseeable harm. Vetlesen investigates why andinwhatsortofcircumstancessuchadesirearises,and how it is channelled, or exploited, into collective evil- doing. He argues that such evildoing, pitting whole groups against each other, springs from a combination ofcharacter,situation,andsocialstructure.Bycombin- ing a philosophical approach inspired by Hannah Arendt, a psychological approach inspired by C. Fred Alford,andasociologicalapproachinspiredbyZygmunt Bauman, and bringing these to bear on the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, Vetlesen showshowcloselyperpetrators,victims,andbystanders interact, and how aspects of human agency are recog- nized,denied,andprojectedbydifferentagents. ARNE JOHAN VETLESEN is Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, University of Oslo, Norway.Heistheauthorofoverthirteenbooks,includ- ing Perception, Empathy, and Judgment: An Inquiry into the Preconditions of Moral Performance (1994) and Closeness:AnEthics(withH.Jodalen,1997). CambridgeCulturalSocialStudies Serieseditors:JEFFREY C. ALEXANDER,Departmentof Sociology,YaleUniversity,andSTEVEN SEIDMAN,Department ofSociology,UniversityofAlbany,StateUniversityofNewYork. Titlesintheseries ROGER FRIEDLAND AND JOHN MOHR,MattersofCulture DAVINA COOPER,ChallengingDiversity,RethinkingEqualityand theValueofDifference KRISHAN KUMAR,TheMakingofEnglishNationalIdentity RON EYERMAN,CulturalTrauma STEPHEN M. ENGEL,TheUnfinishedRevolution MICHE` LE LAMONT AND LAURENT THE´ VENOT,Rethinking ComparativeCulturalSociology RON LEMBO,ThinkingthroughTelevision ALI MIRSEPASSI,IntellectualDiscourseandthePoliticsof Modernization RONALD N. JACOBS,Race,Media,andtheCrisisofCivilSociety ROBIN WAGNER-PACIFICI,TheorizingtheStandoff KEVIN MCDONALD,StrugglesforSubjectivity S.N. EISENSTADT,Fundamentalism,Sectarianism,and Revolution PIOTR SZTOMPKA,Trust SIMON J. CHARLESWORTH,APhenomenologyofWorking-Class Experience LUC BOLTANSKI,TranslatedbyGRAHAM D. BURCHELL, DistantSuffering MARIAM FRASER,IdentitywithoutSelfhood CAROLYN MARVIN AND DAVID W. INGLE,BloodSacrificeand theNation (listcontinuesatendofbook) Evil and Human Agency Understanding Collective Evildoing ArneJohanVetlesen cambridge university press Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SãoPaulo Cambridge University Press TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb22ru,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambrid ge.org/9780521856942 ©ArneJohanVetlesen2005 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublishedinprintformat 2005 isbn-13 978-0-511-13555-2 eBook(EBL) isbn-10 0-511-13555-6 eBook(EBL) isbn-13 978-0-521-85694-2 hardback isbn-10 0-521-85694-9 hardback isbn-13 978-0-521-67357-0 paperback isbn-10 0-521-67357-7 paperback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls forexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Tomychildren:Anahita, Daniel, andPetterNicolai Contents Preface pagexi Anoteonthecoverimage xii Introduction 1 1 Theordinarinessofmodernevildoers:acritiqueofZygmunt Bauman’sModernityandtheHolocaust 14 Introduction 14 TheHolocaustasmodernity’swindow 15 Reformulatingtherelationshipbetweensociety andmorality 21 Themanymeaningsofproximity 23 Uncouplingresponsibilityfromreciprocity 27 Goldhagen’schallenge 29 ReassessingBauman’sthesisinthelightofrecent scholarship 33 Mistakingthebureaucraticdesignforthereality 41 Renderinghumanbeingssuperfluous 47 2 HannahArendtonconscienceandthe‘banality’ofevil 52 Introduction 52 AssessingtheinfluenceofStAugustine 54 ‘Icannotpossiblywanttobecomemyownadversary’: theSocraticbottomline 57 Conscienceandtemptation 63 DidEichmannhaveaconscience? 69 ThenotionofconscienceinHeidegger’sBeingandTime 71 Arendt’sadvocacyoftheSocraticmodelofconscience 77 vii viii Listofcontents Doubledehumanizationandhumanagency 84 Lessonsofanunforeseenproximity:EichmannmeetsStorfer 89 Theattractionofsuperfluousness 98 3 Thepsycho-logicofwantingtohurtothers:Anassessment ofC.FredAlford’sworkonevil 104 Introduction 104 ‘Evilispleasureinhurtingandlackofremorse’ 106 Klein’spositionsofexperience 113 Imaginingevilasthealternativetodoingit:therole ofculture 120 Evilasenvy 124 ProblemswithAlford’stheory 128 IdentifyingwithEichmann 135 ThelimitationsofAlford’sapproach 140 4 Thelogicandpracticeofcollectiveevil:‘ethniccleansing’ inBosnia 145 Introduction 145 Approachesto‘ethniccleansing’intheformerYugoslavia 148 Whatisgenocide? 154 Theexplosivedialecticofindividualization andcollectivism 159 ‘Ethniccleansing’asacaseofsecuritization 167 Thedifferencesbetweenindividualandcollectiveevil 170 Genocidallogicandthecollectivizationofagency 175 Girard’stheoryofthesurrogatevictim 182 Thedesignofgenocideas‘ethniccleansing’ 188 Genocidalrape:itsnatureandfunction 196 Rape,shame,andagency 203 5 Responsestocollectiveevil 220 Introduction 220 Howtopassjudgmentonevil? 221 Acultureofindifference 229 Theresponsibilityofbystanders:wheninactionmakes forcomplicity 235 Bosnia:thefolliesofimpartialityenactedasneutrality 241 Threelessonsofmoralfailure 253 Collectiveagencyanditsdisaggregation 257 Truthcommissions,trials,andtestimonies 265
Description:The list of books you might like
