The greatest vice?
History teems with instances of “man’s inhumanity to man.” Some wrongs are perpetrated by individuals; most ghastly evils were committed by groups or nations. Other horrific evils were established and sustained by legal systems and supported by cultural mores. This demands explanation. I describe an...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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University of Oxford, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
2016
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| _version_ | 1797072412366340096 |
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| author | LaFollette, H |
| author2 | Savulescu, J |
| author_facet | Savulescu, J LaFollette, H |
| author_sort | LaFollette, H |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | History teems with instances of “man’s inhumanity to man.” Some wrongs are perpetrated by individuals; most ghastly evils were committed by groups or nations. Other horrific evils were established and sustained by legal systems and supported by cultural mores. This demands explanation. I describe and evaluate four common explanations of evil before discussing more mundane and psychologically informed explanations of wrong-doing. Examining these latter forms helps isolate an additional factor which, if acknowledged, empowers us to diagnose, cope with, and prevent many ordinary and serious moral wrongs. In so doing, I do not assert that the explanations of first call are never appropriate. I claim only that their role is smaller than many of us reflexively suppose, and that the role of the later feature I identify is more significant, in part, because it supports and amplifies the more mundane and psychologically informed factors prompting wrong-doing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:07:23Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:6450666b-8c21-4794-8936-b3fd39b23e26 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:07:23Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | University of Oxford, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:6450666b-8c21-4794-8936-b3fd39b23e262022-03-26T18:18:11ZThe greatest vice?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:6450666b-8c21-4794-8936-b3fd39b23e26Symplectic Elements at OxfordUniversity of Oxford, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics2016LaFollette, HSavulescu, JHistory teems with instances of “man’s inhumanity to man.” Some wrongs are perpetrated by individuals; most ghastly evils were committed by groups or nations. Other horrific evils were established and sustained by legal systems and supported by cultural mores. This demands explanation. I describe and evaluate four common explanations of evil before discussing more mundane and psychologically informed explanations of wrong-doing. Examining these latter forms helps isolate an additional factor which, if acknowledged, empowers us to diagnose, cope with, and prevent many ordinary and serious moral wrongs. In so doing, I do not assert that the explanations of first call are never appropriate. I claim only that their role is smaller than many of us reflexively suppose, and that the role of the later feature I identify is more significant, in part, because it supports and amplifies the more mundane and psychologically informed factors prompting wrong-doing. |
| spellingShingle | LaFollette, H The greatest vice? |
| title | The greatest vice? |
| title_full | The greatest vice? |
| title_fullStr | The greatest vice? |
| title_full_unstemmed | The greatest vice? |
| title_short | The greatest vice? |
| title_sort | greatest vice |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lafolletteh thegreatestvice AT lafolletteh greatestvice |