About this episode
In this episode, Ellie and David explore the concept of evil through various philosophical lenses and cultural references.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit overthinkpod.substack.com Are some people born evil, or are we all capable of evil acts? In episode 167 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about all things evil. They think through the characterization of evil in Disney films, Leibniz’s best of all possible worlds theory, the conflation of evil with badness, and Hannah Arendt’s concept of the banality of evil. How does Manichaeism attempt to resolve the problem of evil? Is evil simply the lack of good in the world? And does the concept of evil still have relevance in an age of secular ethics or is the concept too weighed down by its own theological past? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss evil people and how we might categorize them. Works Discussed: Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil Hannah Arendt, “Nightmare and Flight” Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism Paul Formosa, “The Problems with Evil” Paul Formosa, “A Conception of Evil” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Theodicy Gavin Rae, Evil in the Western Philosophical Tradition
People in this episode
Hosts: Ellie, David
Topics covered
- evil
- philosophy
- Disney films
- secular ethics
- Hannah Arendt
- Manichaeism
Keywords
- evil
- philosophy
- Hannah Arendt
- Disney
- secular ethics
- Manichaeism
- Leibniz
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Nightmare and Flight, The Origins of Totalitarianism, The Problems with Evil, A Conception of Evil, Theodicy, Evil in the Western Philosophical Tradition
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