The eminent moral philosopher Susan Neiman shows how naming and confronting evil is essential for preserving democracy in an age of demagogues.
"Possibly the best book title of 2026, I couldn’t agree more with philosopher Susan Neiman’s rehabilitation of the word evil, a very useful and necessary descriptor for the times we are living through. Setting millennia of moral philosophy against the livestreamed degradations of the 21st century, Neiman calls it as she sees it, and in so doing traces the dark path that has led us to this evil moment in history." —Jonny Diamond, Literary Hub
Call It Evil is a bold reckoning with one of the most fraught words in our vocabulary. Far from being a religious or outdated concept, evil is a vital lens, Susan Neiman argues, through which to understand the threats we face today.
Neiman is one of our most important philosophers, and one of the world’s leading thinkers on the nature and question of evil. She opens this sharp, revelatory work with the idea that the reelection of Donald Trump is the outcome not simply of political and economic forces but the erosion of values that have been subject to derision for more than a century. She goes on to show how we have been quietly bombarded from all sides with messages that undermine basic moral principles. Misreadings of Adam Smith and Charles Darwin have led to a view of human nature we now accept as common sense: ideals are for losers, or for politicians who wish to deceive them. Neiman then explores how that ancient view, first formulated by pre-Socratic philosophers, has been steadily promoted by corporate interests and (pseudo) scientists in the modern era. Drawing on history—from European fascism to the moral failures of recent U.S. leaders—she demonstrates how the normalization of evil corrodes trust, destroys justice, and endangers our future.
This is a book for readers who refuse to accept moral confusion as the price of political life, and who believe that confronting evil is the first step toward renewing it.
David, sounds like an interesting book. Do you have it yet? It sounds a little like a book that came out a number of years ago on the subject of evil, "The People of the Lie" by Scott Peck. I'll have to see if our library has the Susan Neiman book.
ReplyDeleteI have preordered it. The release date is 9/15/2026, so it should appear on my Kindle tomorrow. She has previously written at least two books on evil: Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil (2019) and Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy (2002).
ReplyDeletePossibly a companion read: End Times Fascism by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor. Excerpt in The Guardian today about the tech bro obsession with ditching the planet to create their own kingdoms in bunkers, on islands, or in space.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/sep/13/end-times-fascists-essay
Snip:
... we are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world – on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species. There is something treasonous in this. Treasonous not to an abstraction like a flag or a nation, for we are not nationalists. But treasonous to the unspoken pact made with the web of life that sustains us.
They are traitors to creation, to the wonders of here.
St Hildegard of Bingen would agree:
Delete"Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.
Now, think.
What delight God gives to humankind
with all these things. . . .
All nature is at the disposal of humankind.
We are to work with it. For
without we cannot survive."
That quote from St. Hildegard is beautiful.
DeleteThe tech bros fantasy of ditching the planet is bonkers. They don't have anyplace else to go. I can't figure out if they've gotten too involved in gamer/sci -fi fantasy, or if they are cultists like those Heaven's Gate believers in the 1980s who were going to hop on a comet. Or something.
The world would be better off if they did hop a comet and leave earth alone.
DeleteJane Goodall, shortly before her death, did wish Musk would take one of his rockets to Mars.
DeleteThe Hildegard quote is being added to my saved quotes folder. Lovely
DeleteKatherine, I read the People of the Lie but don’t remember much about it, except that it was depressing
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long time since I read People of the Lie. I think I gave my copy to the Friends of the Library sale. As I remember, Peck was a psychiatrist and tried to somewhat describe the evil state of mind.
DeleteWhy are all these guys mental cases? One theory is that they are what the capitalist system rewards. Think about it. If you folks or I won 1B USD in a lottery, would we think we need another? We would probably give most of it away.
ReplyDelete"Why are all these guys mental cases?" I get the idea they're not very grounded in reality. They seem to believe their own b.s. a lot. Life is one big monopoly game, winner takes all.
DeleteIt's all comic book stuff thought up by self-indulgent with the maturity of 14-year-old boys--Zuckerburg and his X-Ray Specs, Bezos with his space rockets, Musk offering sperm to female employees to create an army of IVF Mini-Musks, Sam Altman and his Braniac AI. And now they've got gobs of money and bevvies of latex-enhanced chicks rollin' in as they achieve world domination!
DeleteOff topic: NCR has a story about the trend in conservative dioceses to restrict the Communion cup. The cup has not been offered in the local parish since the latest priest arrived except to priest and deacon.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncronline.org/opinion/restricting-chalice-not-tradition-its-troubling-innovation
I have no dog in this fight because I never took the cup and no longer receive at Mass. But Paul Wadell, prof of theology, made this comment on the trend:
"What I fear taking place is a mystification of the Eucharist to create such an aura about it that the focus shifts to the 'untouchability' of God. An overly clerical view of the sacraments frustrates and obscures God's desire."
I can't speak to God's desires, but if Communion is food for our earthly journey and draws us literally into the body of Jesus so we can better do his work, then I understand why some Catholics object to withholding the cup where it was once freely given.
I hate it that they are making an issue of this. Some places offer the cup and some don't. I haven't heard anything about our archdiocese choosing sides. One of the three parishes in town (the largest one) offers the cup, or chalice if that is one's preferred terminology, at every weekend Mass. Our parish didn't do it much before covid, and they do it even less now, just on Holy Thursday. It should be noted that the parish which offers the cup on a regular basis has a large, newer church with a lot of room up front. And an army of EMHCs . St. Anthony's was built in 1917, and the sanctuary is much smaller. On weekends the priest and deacon distribute up front, and two EMHCs go to the side chapels and the choir loft. If we offer the cup, we need to schedule 3 or 4 extra people. And someone has to properly purify the chalices after Mass, washing up in the sink that drains into the ground.
DeletePart of me would like to receive the Precious Blood more often, but I'm also kind of a germaphobe. There are a lot of people who don't stay home when they're sick.
Neither parish considers this a culture war issue. We just do things our own way. I wish people wouldn't make it a liberal or conservative marker.
The logistics you describe--room for reception, enough EMs, hygiene--are not the considerations here.
DeleteThe bishops/priests who are not offering the cup have theological/tradition reasons for their position, that it's somehow "better Catholicism" (my term) to offer the cup only on certain days.
I suppose by restricting the cup to certain days, it appears to make it more "special". But that is bad theology, you can't get more, or less, Jesus. Either way it's his body, blood, soul, and divinity.
Delete“…[it is ] their position, that it's somehow "better Catholicism" (my term) to offer the cup only on certain days”. .
DeleteAbsolute nonsense. This is the kind of stuff that drives people away.
Over at NCR online today there is an article about restricting the cup going against tradition.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncronline.org/opinion/restricting-chalice-not-tradition-its-troubling-innovation