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An Education in 'Evil' pp 63–81Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Processes of Evil as a Supplement to Citizenship Education

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures ((PSEF))

Abstract

What makes a good citizen? What are educators trying to accomplish with “citizenship” education? This chapter engages with a supplement to citizenship education through Alain Badiou’s identification of three processes of evil: betrayal, simulacrum/terror, and disaster. According to Badiou (Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil. Verso, London, UK, 1993/2001), evil is not something that exists on its own; rather, evil is a failure of the good. He defined evil as the result of humans failing or perverting a truth procedure (i.e., the activity of an emerging truth). Individuals and societies need a set of ethics to help create a world with less evil—to persevere in goodness—despite the established order of things that might discourage them.

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  1. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Cathryn van Kessel

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  1. Cathryn van Kessel
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Correspondence to Cathryn van Kessel .

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van Kessel, C. (2019). Processes of Evil as a Supplement to Citizenship Education. In: An Education in 'Evil'. Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16605-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16605-2_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16604-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16605-2

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