Publication at Faculty of Social Sciences |
2016
Abstract
The problem of social and political evil has not been discussed in philosophy to the extent moral evil and natural evil has been discussed, especially in the context of theodicy. In this chapter it is argued that given that social and political evil took throughout the centuries more vicious forms than moral evil (committed by individuals) or natural evil (resulting from illness or natural disasters), and given that the traditional "justifications" of evil clearly fail when applied to social evil, a new conceptualization of the challenge of social and political evil - in the spirit of transnational and intergenerational solidarity, employing the idea of "public reason" and justice as fairness.