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On Evil

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About this listen

For many enlightened, liberal-minded thinkers today, and for most on the political left, evil is an outmoded concept. It smacks too much of absolute judgements and metaphysical certainties to suit the modern age. In this witty, accessible study, the prominent Marxist thinker Terry Eagleton launches a surprising defence of the reality of evil, drawing on literary, theological, and psychoanalytic sources to suggest that evil, no mere medieval artifact, is a real phenomenon with palpable force in our contemporary world.

In a book that ranges from St. Augustine to alcoholism, Thomas Aquinas to Thomas Mann, Shakespeare to the Holocaust, Eagleton investigates the frightful plight of those doomed souls who apparently destroy for no reason. In the process, he poses a set of intriguing questions. Is evil really a kind of nothingness? Why should it appear so glamorous and seductive? Why does goodness seem so boring? Is it really possible for human beings to delight in destruction for no reason at all?

©2010 Terry Eagleton (P)2012 Redwood Audiobooks Ethics & Morality Philosophy Witty Liberalism Metaphysical Morality

Critic reviews

"An absorbing, stimulating, awfully entertaining discussion." ( Booklist)
"Highly recommended for anyone interested in the intersection between literature, philosophy, and religion." ( Library Journal)
"Terry Eagleton's Reason, Faith, and Revolution attacks the new atheism as a kind of secular counter-fundamentalism… Better than any previous book of its kind." (James Wood, The New Yorker)
All stars
Most relevant
When a brilliant mind delves into a topic it leaves one enlightened, sometimes uncomfortable, but mostly amazed. And this is Terry Eagleton. He tugs at one's paradigm, and does it very well.

A very good read. !

A BRILLIANT MIND

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Normally I like Terry Eagleton's books but this one was awful - just a meandering stream of consciousness which overly references other pieces of literature without incisive direction nor point. I enjoyed the first few paragraphs but after that it doesn't go anywhere. It's a comparative piece with the likeness of a poorly written student essay - I honestly wonder if Terry decided to down a bottle of wine with a publishing deadline in view and pulled an all nighter.

Did Terry have a few too many wines before writing

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