FILO-1290B El Mal en Occidente
This course studies some of the most representative approaches in the history of Western thought to the question about Evil. It begins with the reading of Saint Augustine, who is one of the first thinkers to distance himself from the Greek explanation of Evil as ignorance about what is Good, and who, in turn, thinks of Evil as a constitutive phenomenon of the human subject with herself, characterized by the fragility of reason and will. Afterwards, Eighteenth Century David Hume’s and Immanuel Kant’s reflections about Evil will be considered, who think of this question no longer from the postulates of Christian faith, but from what they pretend to be a strictly rational analysis of the religious phenomenon. From there, they address the question about Evil in relationship with the structure and the limits of reason in its knowledge of the world (Hume), and the knowledge of the self (Kant). Finally, more contemporary reflections of thinkers like Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky and Badiou will be examined, who address the question about Evil as a constitutive phenomenon of the formation of the socio-political space, and the individual’s situation with respect to it.
Instructor
Manrique Ospina Carlos
Catalog page for this course