The notion of evil is not undisputed in contemporary philosophy and theology. Reconsidering Evil attempts a regauging of this notion by comparing four different approaches to the theme of evil.... Show moreThe notion of evil is not undisputed in contemporary philosophy and theology. Reconsidering Evil attempts a regauging of this notion by comparing four different approaches to the theme of evil. Paul Ricœur’s approach via symbols of evil provides a focus that enables an analysis and comparison of the highly reflective views of Immanuel Kant, Karl Jaspers and Karl Barth – who represent an ethical, tragic and a non-theodician theological view respectively. This book sets out to determine whether one can claim that speaking of evil is most at home in a specific way of thinking, with the hypothesis that the latter will turn out to be a religious way of thinking. In the final chapter the notion of "the end of evil" turns out to be very important for understanding the specific character of a religious view of evil. In comparison with Kant's ethical view and Jaspers' tragic one, the broadest or richest understanding of evil is to be found in a religious context. However, this comparison also shows the possible dangers of a religious view. Thus, by means of an in-depth analysis of these thinkers, the relevance of the theme of evil for present-day philosophy of religion is critically examined. Show less
Prior to the abolishing of Apartheid rule in 1994 several major South African white writers wrote a novel set on a South African farm. Likewise, in the decades that preceded the institutionalising... Show morePrior to the abolishing of Apartheid rule in 1994 several major South African white writers wrote a novel set on a South African farm. Likewise, in the decades that preceded the institutionalising of Apartheid, several farm novels were published, but with an entirely different message. In Unheimlich moederland insights from several disciplines are used to show how major changes in social-economic relations, land rights and the construction of cultural identity in and between these two periods were reflected on farms and in farm novels. Das Unheimliche (The Uncanny) – those things within ones own realm that are strange and therefore frightening – , a concept coming from Freud, but also used by structuralists and cultural critics, proofs to be capable to explain certain effects of (post-)colonalism and interculturality. Uncanny for instance, were the rising dead or venging powers of nature that in late 20th century farm novels undermined white hegemony. Death is a plural metaphor: in a literary as well as in a social context, it refers to transgressing boundaries, change and chaos but also to land rights and patrimonie and from there to the establishing of spatial and identifying boundaries. In text as in real life, the structure of a rite de passage (separation, liminality, reintegration) is being used to link death to life, and thus to control it. Show less
