Peter Dews

Possessed by Concepts A Study of Concepts By Christopher Peacocke MIT Press, 1992. Pp. x + 266. ISBN 0–262–161338. £24.95. Morality, ethics and ‘postmetaphysical thinking: new books by Jürgen Habermas The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. An Enquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society Polity Press, 1992, Pp.300, ISBN 0–7456–1077–3. £35/11.95. Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action Polity Press, 1992. Pp. 280. ISBN 0–7456–1104–4. £29.50. Postmetaphysical Thinking. Philosophical Essays Polity Press, 1992. Pp. 200. ISBN 0–7456–0734–9. £29.50. Justification and Application. Remarks on Discourse Ethics Polity Press, 1993. Pp. 192. ISBN 0–7456–0143–9. £35/11.95. Shame and Necessity By Bernard Williams University of California Press, 1993. Pp. xii + 254. ISBN 0–520–08046–7. $25.

In the last quarter of the twentieth century the concept of postmodernism, and the associated notion of postmodernity, became a principal focus of discussion in philosophy, cultural analysis, and social and political theory. Nietzsche and Heidegger are crucial points of reference for the French post-structuralists, who provided the theoretical armoury of postmodernism. Foucault and Derrida have probably been the most influential of French post-structuralist thinkers. The central theoretical and political dilemma of postmodernist thought which was highlighted by its most eminent critic, Jürgen Habermas. Postmodernists have construed the collapse of metaphysical foundations as a licence for relativism, Habermas's conception of agreement as the intrinsic, albeit idealised, aim of communication provides, a 'post-metaphysical' account of the orientation to a context-transcending truth. On Habermas's account, modernity, in both its capitalist and bureaucratic socialist versions, is characterised by a 'colonisation' of the human life-world by instrumental reason. The perspectivism, and relativism, which are central to the epistemology of postmodernism, prohibit comprehensive historical claims.

This timely book by philosopher Peter Dews explores the idea of evil, one of the most problematic terms in the contemporary moral vocabulary. Surveys the intellectual debate on the nature of evil over the past two hundred years Engages with a broad range of discourses and thinkers, from Kant and the German Idealists, via Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, to Levinas and Adorno Suggests that the concept of moral evil touches on a neuralgic point in western culture Argues that, despite the widespread abuse and political manipulation of the term ‘evil’, we cannot do without it Concludes that if we use the concept of evil, we must acknowledge its religious dimension.