Evil, according to Forti, is a dynamic motion, a “field of forces and tensions” (7), which operates through, but is not identical to, the exercise of political power. Forti marks a distinction between wickedness, which is a “structure of individual conscience,” and evil, which is a “mode or expression of power” (4). What is perhaps most striking from the beginning is not its in depth reading of Kant, Nietzsche, Foucault, or Arendt-all of which, along with many others, extend throughout the book-but rather Forti’s turn to the literature of Fyodor Dostoevsky.ĭrawing primarily from Dostoevsky’s Demons (1872), the inspiration for her thought as well as the title of her book, Forti spends part 1 outlining what she calls the “Dostoevsky Paradigm.” She presents this paradigm as an answer to the assertion by Kant that “absolute evil” (i.e., evil committed for its own sake) is inconceivable. It marks the beginning of a well-researched and seemingly near-exhaustive investigation of the philosophical history of thought on evil. This is the point with which Simona Forti opens New Demons: Rethinking Power and Evil Today. The question of evil, one of the most fundamental in humanity’s exploration of itself, is in reality the question of suffering.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |