Introduction: What is evil and how can we understand it? -- The theology of evil -- Theodicies -- The privation theodicy -- The free will theodicy -- The Iraenean theodicy -- The totality theodicy -- History as secular theodicy -- Job's insight-the theodicy of the hereafter -- Anthropology of evil -- Are people good or evil? -- The typologies of evil -- Demonic evil -- Evil for evil's sake -- Evil's aesthetic seduction -- Sadism -- Schadenfreude -- Subjective and objective (...) evil -- Kant and instrumental evil -- The impossibility of a "devilish" will -- The paradox of evil -- Moral rebirth -- The evil is the other-idealistic evil -- "Us" vs. "them" -- Violent individuals -- Arendt and stupid evil -- The evil and the stupid -- Radical and banal evil -- Eichmann, Hoss, and Stangl -- Normal people and extreme evil -- Thinking as opposition -- Evil people -- The problem of evil -- Theory and praxis -- Ethics of conviction and ethics of responsibility -- Politics and violence -- Evil as a concrete problem. (shrink)

Work is one of the most universal features of human life; virtually everybody spends some part of their life at work. It is often associated with tedium and boredom; in conflict with the things we would otherwise love to do. Thinking of work primarily as a burden - an activity we would rather be without - is a thought that was shared by the philosophers in ancient Greece, who generally regarded work as a terrible curse. And yet, research shows that (...) it prolongs life and is generally good for people's physical and mental health. This is perhaps why work is increasingly recognized as a crucial source of meaning and social identity. And our attitudes to work have been changing significantly in the last decades, with an increased demand for meaning and self-realization in the workplace.In this book, Lars Svendsen argues that we need to complete this reorientation of our feelings about work and collapse the differences between leisure and work. Work, like the poor, is always with us. But to overcome the sense of being burnt out, we must think of work as not only productive but recreative - in other words, a lot more like leisure. (shrink)

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important."_ - Bertrand Russell_ Work is one of the most universal features of human life; virtually everybody spends some part of their life at work. It is often associated with tedium and boredom, in conflict with the things we would otherwise love to do. The idea of work primarily as a burden was also shared by the philosophers in ancient Greece, who generally regarded (...) work as a curse. And yet research shows that it prolongs life and is generally good for people’s physical and mental health. Why is this? What is the meaning of work? To what extent does it determine our social identity? Should we expect to find work fulfilling? In this book, Lars Svendsen explores these questions and more. He argues that we need to complete this reorientation of our feelings about work and collapse the differences between leisure and work. Work is always with us. But to overcome the sense of being burnt out, we must think of work as not only productive but recreative – in other words, a lot more like leisure. Revised and updated in light of the global financial crisis, this second edition also includes a new chapter on work and globalization. (shrink)

Artikkelen vurderer hvorvidt ID-kravet, som begrenser asylsøkeres anledning til å søke arbeid, er etisk velbegrunnet innenfor rammene av en liberal rettskultur. Videre anlegges et konsekvensetisk perspektiv fordi ID-kravet er konsekvensetisk begrunnet, og det kan da foretas en immanent kritikk. Det vises at ID-kravet innebærer en begrensning av asylsøkeres negative og positive frihet, og at forsvarere av ID-kravet dermed må bevise at kravet har så gode konsekvenser at det legitimerer en slik begrensning av asylsøkeres frihet. Både generelle overveielser av ID-kravets fordeler (...) og ulemper og konkrete data tilsier at bevisbyrden ikke er oppfylt. Følgelig må det enten frembringes empiri som tilsier at ID-kravet likevel har bedre konsekvenser, eller det bør gis en annen type begrunnelse enn den konsekvensetiske for ID-kravet, eller ID-kravet bør avskaffes.Nøkkelord: asylsøkere, arbeid, liberalt demokrati, konsekvensialismeEnglish summary: Undocumented migrants' right to apply for work. A consequentialist assessmentThe article evaluates whether the Norwegian ID-demand, which limits asylum seekers' opportunity for work, is ethically well founded within the limits of a liberal, legal culture. The argument operates within a consequentialist normative theory because the ID-demand is justified in terms of its consequences, and an immanent critique of the demand can therefore be carried out. It is argued that the ID-demand imposes restrictions on the negative and positive liberty of asylum seekers, and defenders of the ID-demand will then have a burden of proof to show that the demand has such good consequences that it will legitimise these restrictions. Both general considerations and specific data clearly indicate that this burden of proof is not satisfied. Hence, one must either provide new data that indicate that the ID-demand after all has better consequences, defend the ID-demand in terms of something other than its consequences or reject the ID-demand. (shrink)

Despite the overuse of the word in movies, political speeches, and news reports, "evil" is generally seen as either flagrant rhetoric or else an outdated concept: a medieval holdover with no bearing on our complex everyday reality. In _A Philosophy of Evil_, however, acclaimed philosopher Lars Svendsen argues that evil remains a concrete moral problem: that we're all its victims, and all guilty of committing evil acts. "It's normal to be evil," he writes -- the problem is, we (...) have lost the vocabulary to talk about it. Taking up this problem -- how do we speak about evil? -- _A Philosophy of Evil_ treats evil as an ordinary aspect of contemporary life, with implications that are moral, practical, and above all, political. Because, as Svendsen says, "Evil should neither be justified nor explained away -- evil must be fought.". (shrink)

In this book Lars Svendsen examines the nature of boredom, how it originated, its history, how and why it afflicts us, and why we cannot seem to overcome it by any act of will.

Surveillance cameras. Airport security lines. Barred store windows. We see manifestations of societal fears everyday, and daily news reports on the latest household danger or raised terror threat level continually stoke our sense of impending doom. In _A Philosophy of Fear_, Lars Svendsen now explores the underlying ideas and issues behind this powerful emotion, as he investigates how and why fear has insinuated itself into every aspect of modern life. Svendsen delves into science, politics, sociology, and literature (...) to explore the nature of fear. He examines the biology behind the emotion, from the neuroscience underlying our “fight or flight” instinct to how fear induces us to take irrational actions in our attempts to minimize risk. The book then turns to the political and social realms, investigating the role of fear in the philosophies of Machiavelli and Hobbes, the rise of the modern “risk society,” and how fear has eroded social trust. Entertainment such as the television show “Fear Factor,” competition in extreme sports, and the political use of fear in the ongoing “War on Terror” all come under Svendsen’s probing gaze, as he investigates whether we can ever disentangle ourselves from the continual state of alarm that defines our age. Svendsen ultimately argues for the possibility of a brighter, less fearful future that is marked by a triumph of humanist optimism. An incisive and thought-provoking meditation, _A Philosophy of Fear _pulls back the curtain that shrouds dangers imagined and real, forcing us to confront our fears and why we hold to them. (shrink)

"Freedom of speech, religion, choice, will - - humans have fought, and continue to fight, for all of these. But what is human freedom, and what are the main threats to it today? These questions and more are discussed in this comprehensive investigation of the nature of freedom in contemporary society. Our behaviours, thoughts and actions are governed by a variety of restrictions, deadlines and burdens. Taking a broad approach across metaphysics, politics and ethics, A Philosophy of Freedom questions how (...) we can successsfully create meaningful lives for ourselves and others when we are estranged from the very concept of what it means to be free. By tackling such issues as the nature of free agency and the possibility of freedom in a universe goverened by natural laws, Svendsen concludes that the real definition of personal freedom is first and foremost the liberty to devote yourself to what truly matters to you. Drawing on the fascinating debates surrounding the possibility of freedom and its limits within society, A Philosophy of Freedom provides an engaging, accessible and insightful overview of modern philosophical thought on what it is to be free." --Jacket flap. (shrink)

Work is one of the most universal features of human life; virtually everybody spends some part of their life at work. It is often associated with tedium and boredom; in conflict with the things we would otherwise love to do. Thinking of work primarily as a burden - an activity we would rather be without - is a thought that was shared by the philosophers in ancient Greece, who generally regarded work as a terrible curse. And yet, research shows that (...) it prolongs life and is generally good for people's physical and mental health. This is perhaps why work is increasingly recognized as a crucial source of meaning and social identity. And our attitudes to work have been changing significantly in the last decades, with an increased demand for meaning and self-realization in the workplace.In this book, Lars Svendsen argues that we need to complete this reorientation of our feelings about work and collapse the differences between leisure and work. Work, like the poor, is always with us. But to overcome the sense of being burnt out, we must think of work as not only productive but recreative - in other words, a lot more like leisure. (shrink)

Lars Svendsen draws upon the writings of thinkers from Adam Smith to Roland Barthes to analyze fashion as both a historical phenomenon and a philosophy of aesthetics.

Heterotrimeric G proteins, consisting of α, β, and γ subunits, couple ligand-bound seven transmembrane domain receptors to the regulation of effector proteins and production of intracellular second messengers. G protein signaling mediates the perception of environmental cues in all higher eukaryotic organisms, including yeast, Dictyostelium, plants, and animals. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is the first animal to have complete descriptions of its cellular anatomy, cell lineage, neuronal wiring diagram, and genomic sequence. In a recent paper, Jansen et al.(1) used sequence (...) searches of the C. elegans genome database to identify all heterotrimeric G protein genes (20 Gα, 2 Gβ, 2 Gγ). C. elegans encodes one ortholog of each of the four Gα classes found in metazoans and 16 new Gα genes. The orthologous genes are widely expressed, whereas 14 of the divergent Gα genes are almost exclusively expressed in sensory neurons where they may regulate perception and chemotaxis.BioEssays 21:713–717, 1999. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

In recent years, the concept of social capital – broadly defined as co-operative networks based on regular, personal contact and trust – has been widely applied within cross-disciplinary human science research, primarily by economists, political scientists and sociologists. In this article, I argue why and how fieldwork anthropologists should fill a gap in the social capital literature by highlighting how social capital is being built in situ. I suggest that the recent inventions of “bridging” and “bonding” social capital, e.g., inclusive (...) and exclusive types of social capital, are fruitful concepts to apply in an anthropological fieldwork setting. Thus, my case study on the relationship between local people and newcomers in the rural Danish marginal municipality of Ravnsborg seeks to reveal processes of bridging/bonding social capital building. Such a case study at the micro level has general policy implications for a cultural clash between two different groups by demonstrating the complexity of a social capital mix where bonding social capital strongly prevails. This ultimately leads to a “social trap” (Rothstein 2005), implying widespread distrust and serious social and economic costs for a whole population. (shrink)

How do students learn about racism in the absence of ‘race’ as an explanatory concept for current social divisions? This article traces conceptual and affective negotiations of ‘race’ and racism in a Norwegian middle school classroom. Conceptual confusion about ‘race’, racism and lines of inclusion and exclusion in the nation is rife in this educational setting, where the curricular focus is on questions of immigration and integration. Treating ‘race’ as a ‘chameleon-like’ concept that adapts to the cultural context and political (...) situation, the analysis highlights the emotional investments and injuries that discussing race brings forward in the situation through a Kleinian psychoanalytic lens. Working through the affective as well as the conceptual aspects of the classroom’s struggles with ‘race’ and racism, the article argues that racism is enacted in the classroom partly as an effect of the denial of ‘race’ as a current effect of racism. Furthermore, it suggests that the denial of ‘race’ as an explanatory concept veils racial binaries that are enacted through Norwegian ethnonationalism, and facilitates enactment of racist dynamics in education that is intended to prevent racism. (shrink)

Complex, multigenic biological traits are shaped by the emergent interaction of proteins being the main functional units at the molecular scale. Based on a phenomenological approach, algorithms for quantifying two different aspects of emergence were introduced (Wegner and Hao in Progr Biophys Mol Biol 161:54–61, 2021) describing: (i) pairwise reciprocal interactions of proteins mutually modifying their contribution to a complex trait (denoted as weak emergence), and (ii) formation of a new, complex trait by a set of n ‘constitutive’ proteins at (...) concentrations exceeding individual threshold values (strong emergence). The latter algorithm is modified here to take account of protein redundancy with respect to a complex trait (‘full redundancy’). Irreducibility is considered a necessary and sufficient criterion for strong biological emergence; if one constitutive protein is missing, or its concentration drops below the threshold the trait is lost. A definition based on ‘unpredictability’ is dismissed, because this criterion is irrelevant for the evolution of a complex trait, and apparent unpredictability may rather reflect our basic deficits in understanding unless we can provide an unequivocal proof for it. The phenomenological approach advocated here allows to identify hidden rules according to which strongly emergent traits may be organized. This is of high value for understanding the evolution of complex traits which seems to require the saltational advent of all constitutive proteins ‘in one turn’ to arrive at a functional trait providing for an improved fitness of the organism. Rather than being a purely random process, it may be guided by fundamental structural principles. (shrink)

This paper argues that it is possible to develop a new conceptual framework based on the tradition of philosophical hermeneutics to address what one could call “the human factor” within knowledge creation in organisations. This is done firstly through a review of the epistemological roots of three main theories of knowledge creation in organisations. We examine these theories along two axes: a) their understanding of the relation between person and language, and b) the controllability of knowledge creation. Secondly, we restate (...) the question of knowledge creation in organisations from the perspective of philosophical hermeneutics, arguing that knowledge creation takes place as an event in language, that is as an uncontrollable process which nonetheless requires courage, trust, and persistence and thereby requires that certain “ethical actions” should happen. This, finally, leads us to develop a model for knowledge creation called LUGS, which insists on the intrinsic relation between epistemology and practice, i.e. between what people come to know and how they decide to be – and it is this intrinsic relation between knowledge and being that we take as the “message” of this article. (shrink)

Moral sensitivity and moral reasoning are essential competencies biomedical researchers have to develop to make ethical decisions in their daily practices. Previous research has shown that these competencies can be developed through ethics education. However, it is unclear which underlying mechanisms best support the development of these competencies. In this article we argue that the development of moral sensitivity and moral reasoning can be fostered through teaching strategies that tap into students’ moral imagination. We describe how moral imagination can stimulate (...) the development of these competencies through three different merits of moral imagination. Moral imagination can help students to 1) transfer and apply abstract moral concepts to concrete situations and contexts, 2) explore the perspective of others, 3) explore and foresee the moral consequences of different decisions and actions. We explain these three merits of moral imagination in the context of biomedical research and present a theoretical model for how these merits can be used to stimulate the development of moral sensitivity and moral reasoning. Furthermore, we describe multiple teaching strategies for biomedical curricula that tap into the three merits of moral imagination. These teaching strategies can inspire teachers to design ethics education that activates students’ moral imagination for the development of moral sensitivity and moral reasoning. (shrink)

Hans Skjervheim har hatt stor betydning for norsk åndsliv og offentlig ordskifte. Han hadde en unik evne til å vise hvordan tidløse filosofiske problemstillinger ikke bare angår fagfilosofer, men også er til stede i den politiske debatt og i hverdagens små og store utfordringer. Mange forbinder nok Skjervheim særlig med ±positivismestriden? på 1960- og 1970-tallet. Denne antologien viser bredden i virksomheten hans, og at mange av Skjervheims tekster har noe betydelig å si om også vår egen tids utfordringer - blant (...) annet om tiltroen til vitenskapen, filosofiens rolle, forvitringen av den liberale orden, økologisk krise, algoritmestyrte sosiale medier, ±fake news? og identitetspolitikk. Forfatterne er en blanding av en eldre garde, som skrev og virket samtidig med Skjervheim, og en yngre garde bestående av toneangivende fagpersoner fra ulike fagområder i dag. De tar alle for seg en eller flere sentrale tekster av Skjervheim og leser dem inn i samtidige problemstillinger. Disse nylesningene aktualiserer og bruker av Skjervheims filosofiske og litterære arv, men peker også på blindflekker og svakheter i hans tenkning - helt i tråd med slik Skjervheim ønsket å bli lest. (shrink)

What is it to understand another speaker’s utterance? A natural view is that such understanding requires at least the acquisition of propositional knowledge of the utterance’s meaning. This view is challenged by cases in which it correctly seems to a hearer H as though an utterance means such-and-such, but where H doesn’t form the belief that it means such-and-such due to a misleading defeater. Such cases have been claimed to be examples of understanding without belief, and a fortiori of understanding (...) without knowledge. The paper examines this argument in detail and defends a mixed verdict: While the argument succeeds in showing that there is a reading of attributions of utterance understanding on which the natural view is false, such attributions also have a different reading on which the natural view may well be true for all the argument shows. In making the case for the second half of this claim, the paper gives center stage to the close intuitive connection between utterance understanding and communicative success. (shrink)