Evil and moral detachment: further reflections on The Mirror Thesis

International Journal of Philosophical Studies 24 (2):201-218 (2016)
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Abstract

A commonly accepted claim by philosophers investigating the nature of evil is that the evil person is, in some way, the mirror image of the moral saint. In this paper I will defend a new version of this thesis. I will argue that both the moral saint and the morally evil person are characterized by a lack of conflict between moral and non-moral concerns. However, while the saint achieves this unity through a reconciliation of the two, the evil person does so by eliminating moral concerns from her character

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Alfred Archer
Tilburg University

Citations of this work

Supererogation, Sacrifice, and the Limits of Duty.Alfred Archer - 2016 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 54 (3):333-354.
Vice-based accounts of moral evil.Alan T. Wilson - 2023 - Philosophical Studies 180 (9):2825-2845.

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References found in this work

Unprincipled virtue: an inquiry into moral agency.Nomy Arpaly - 2003 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Moral saints.Susan Wolf - 1982 - Journal of Philosophy 79 (8):419-439.
Moral Saints.Susan Wolf - 1982 - In Roger Crisp & Michael Slote (eds.), Virtue Ethics. Oxford University Press.

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