This course is centered on the concept of Radical Evil as conceived by Immanuel Kant;  the moral dilemmas of asymmetrical warfare and the Human Rights trials of the 20th century including the Nuremburg Trials, the Trial of Eichmann in Jerusalem as well as the trials of terrorists in our day.

In the first part of the course we examine the concept of evil as it has been developed in modern times in the aftermaths of the Lisbon earthquake,  the Holocaust and the destruction of the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001. These events in different ways shook the trust of man in the goodness of the world and/or the goodness of mankind. A trust that is a condition of civilization as we know it.

In the second part of the course we study, in terms of Kant?s concept of radical evil, the moral dilemmas involved in the techniques of asymmetrical warfare including, torture, targeted extrajudicial killings, and suicide bombings ---none of them new---but that many people, in the context of an extreme danger or dire emergency, are morally evaluating in a new light.

 Finally we analyze how the understanding of evil bears on the trials and punishment of its perpetrators including:  the Nuremburg trials, the Eichmann trial, the human rights trials of recent years and the contemporary trials or non trials of terrorists, focusing in particular on the controversial notion that the perpetrators of extreme evil are beyond forgiveness and  punishment,  simply put they would be monsters to be guarded against and disposed of.

Students are asked to write relatively short critical summaries of the three parts of the course and one paper critically developing their thoughts on the issues they have discussed and analyzed. The aim of this course is not polemical; it is to clarify insofar as it is possible issues in moral, political and humanistic thought that have been reopened and entangled in our times and will be with us for some time to come. Three recent books will serve as our guides:

1. Neiman, Susan, Evil in Modern Thought, Princeton University Press, Princeton: 2002

2. Gross, Michael L., Moral Dilemmas of Modern War, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2009

3. Nino, Carlos, Radical Evil on Trial, Yale University Press: New Haven: 1996