Department Member, Kogod Reseach Centre for Contemporary Jewish Thought
University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education
University College
Thesis Title: Evildoing - An Attack on Morality
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Prof. Julian Savulescu
Prof. Roger Crisp Dr. David Rodin |
About
Thesis Abstract
Child abuse, rape, torture, mass-killings and genocide are paradigms of evildoing. To say that such acts are ‘wrong’ seems grossly inadequate. But what distinguishes evildoing from ordinary wrongdoing? Can a single category encompass such diversity? And if it can, are there objective standards for evildoing that transcend cultural differences? The dissertation presents a theory of evildoing as an attack on morality, arguing that it is the unique relationship of evil acts to the core of morality that distinguishes them from ordinary wrongs. Two projects are undertaken: (1) to provide an account of morality that can ground a theory of evildoing that is both objective and capable of systematically accommodating the diverse phenomena and definitions of evil acts, and (2) to articulate and defend the attack on morality theory of evildoing. The first challenge is met by a minimalist account of objective morality, structured by what I call the fundamentals of morality. The second is met by capturing the idea of an attack on morality in set of four necessary and sufficient conditions. Briefly, an act constitutes evildoing, or an attack on morality, when it is wrong, results in serious harm to others, originates in an intention based on the correct belief that the act will cause or risk such harm, and when the perpetrator’s mental states and/or the acts’ consequences are antagonistic to morality via one or more of its fundamentals.
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