Abstract
Before we can focus our attention entirely on philosophical theories of evil, I need to address a few puzzles that often arise in this context, and that threaten to undermine theoretical work on the subject. The first puzzle has to do with the connection between evil and incomprehensibility. If evil is fundamentally incomprehensible, as many assume, then how could there ever be a satisfactory theory of evil, if the point of such a theory is to help us comprehend the subject matter? According to the second puzzle, if most plausible candidates for evil are likely to suffer from some sort of mental illness or disorder (like psychopathy), then how could it be fair or accurate to condider them evil? The third puzzle concerns skepticism about the reality of moral character in general, and of evil character in particular.
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Sias, J. (2016). Three Puzzles about Evil. In: The Meaning of Evil. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56822-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56822-9_5
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