PART ONE: THE NATURE OF PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLANATION
Comparing philosophy to other intellectual
disciplines, the first part of the course will
examine cross-cultural attempts to separate
philosophy from science, history, and art.
In chronological order we will start with ancient
Egyptian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Chinese philosophical
methodology before moving to traditional European
systems.
PART TWO: SEPARATING GOOD FROM EVIL
Following the same order as part one, we
will examine selected ethical systems of the
philosophies considered in part one. Of particular
interest is the correlation between cosmology
and ethics in each of the various systems.
PART THREE: EXPLAINING EVIL
In this section we will concentrate on explanations
of evil found in modern and contemporary European
philosophy, with special emphasis on Leibniz,
Rousseau, Kant, Nietzsche, and Freud. We will
briefly consider the 20th century explanations
of Camus, Arendt, and Rawls.
PART FOUR: OVERCOMING EVIL
In this section we will focus on the efforts
of contemporary psychologists to comprehend
evil as a form of behavior that may be changed.
In particular we will examine Ervin Staub's
efforts to understand genocide and even to
predict its occurrence. We will follow the
case studies of Staub taken from Europe, Asia,
and Africa. We will also examine James Waller's
recommendations for preventing genocide. We
will close with a brief examination of the
attempts of contemporary evolutionary psychologists
to understand evil as a behavioral phenomenon.
PART FIVE: EVIL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
We will close the course with a brief consideration
of evil as a rhetorical device used to further
political aims.
