The evil character : a philosophical analysis illuminated by literature

Abstract

This thesis has two objectives. The first is to present a theory of the evil character; and the second is to "test" the heuristic of using fiction to illuminate philosophy. My theory of the evil character is easily stated. Substantively, I conclude that certain characteristics (intentions, motivations, orientations, and dispositions) are necessary and sufficient to delimit the evil character from other kinds of characters. First, the evil character acts (or intends to act) to bring about harm, or is not troubled if harm is a foreseeable consequence of his action. Second, the evil character possesses a specific mechanism that allows him to intend and execute harmful actions by suppressing the good reasons to desist that (even) he can grasp (or could if he sought to inquire). This mechanism, I contend, stems from profound egotism. Third, the evil character is a rational agent who is culpable, responsible, and accountable for his actions (which are freely chosen). Fourth, the motivations impelling a particular evil character to action on a given occasion may be many and varied. Consequently, motives do not determine evilness of character. My theory develops and evolves the theories of Todd Calder, Claudia Card, Daniel Haybron, John Kekes, Colin McGinn, Adam Morton, and Lawrence Thomas. These analytic philosophers have presented some of the most compelling theories of the evil character and the evil person of the past twenty years, and their work is representative of the breadth and depth of contemporary philosophical research into evil. Their theories, evaluated initially on theoretical grounds, are also "tested" against a series of in depth literary analyses of the characters of Iago, Satan, and Claggart from William Shakespeare's Othello, John Milton's Paradise Lost, and Herman Melville's The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor. The claims of these theories that survive scrutiny against the impression of the evil character imparted by the works of fiction are used to develop my theory of the evil character. In making extensive use of literary works to assist my philosophising, I apply a technique employed and accepted by analytic philosophers (including McGinn and Haybron) to a large-scale research project, so as to thoroughly examine its viability. While my chief concern is to trial this heuristic, I briefly and tentatively present an ancillary set of meta-level reflections concerning how best to use fictional characters to inspire, test, and confirm philosophical theories. I outline and recommend the coherentist technique utilised in my dissertation as a good starting point for future philosophical investigations involving fiction. Simply put, I conclude that the general heuristic is extremely viable provided the methodology employed constitutes a rigorous test rather than a search for confirmations in the fiction, and that it is acknowledged that theorising out of fiction can only provide telling insights at the level of character. Making the more ambitious claim that the findings about character are borne out in actual persons necessitates a further empirical study of such individuals. Show more