Radical goodness/radical evil : Martin Buber's philosophical anthropology in contemporary times
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Susan Lecin Polinsky (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Susan Lecin Mengert
Abstract: This philosophical and historical investigation into the nature of radical evil includes a discussion of the history of radical evil that culminates in a twentieth century perspective on radical evil based on Martin Buber's philosophical anthropology and his biblical/Kabbalistic interpretation of the sources of evil and the ultimate redeemability of the individual human person. An historical-philosophical portrayal of the concept of radical goodness concludes with an interpretation of Buber's I and Thou in light of the post-Holocaust modern world's ethical struggles. The central thesis is that post-modern society accepts varying occasions and degrees of radical evil because, in part, it has experienced the radical evil of the Holocaust and consequently evaluates the acceptability of evil in comparison to the ultimate evil known by people within this century. Accepting some evil, not striving toward goodness, has become the route by which humankind considers behavior, government, rules, deviance, and social policy. Concomitant to this thesis of societal acceptance of evil in comparison to the radical evil of the Holocaust is the critical importance of the individual person as the source of both radical goodness and radical evil.
Radical goodness/radical evil : Martin Buber's philosophical anthropology in contemporary times
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Created on 1/1/1992
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 1992
- Subjects
- Buber, Martin, $d 1878-1965
- Buber, Martin, $d 1878-1965. $t Ich und du
- Good and evil
- Philosophical anthropology