Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life Chapter 1 Good and Evil Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life Chapter 1

From Cruelty to Goodness, Hallie What is institutionalized cruelty? It is not only physical assault. Assault on the dignity and self-respect of others. The citizens of Le Chambon as an example of the opposite of cruelty.

The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn, Bennett The conflict between sympathy and bad morality. 3 Cases of Conscience: Huck Finn, Heinrich Himmler, and Jonathan Edwards.

The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn Moral principles, moral sympathies, and moral conduct. The moral significance of our sympathies.

The Evil That Men Think—And Do, Hallie Was Edwards really worse than Himmler, as Hallie argues? The morality of the Walrus vs. the morality of the Carpenter. Bennett’s theory of evil overemphasizes the sympathies of the agent, and underemphasizes the central role of victims.

The Evil That Men Think—And Do Hallie’s critique of Hannah Arendt’s phrase, “the banality of evil.” The wholeness of evil.

Facing the Extreme: The War of All Against All, Todorov The nature of human existence in the concentration camps. The social contract. The tension between vital values and moral values.

Strategies for Survival, Applebaum The stories of those who survived. Some led extraordinary lives. Living “without pity” Ordinary virtues: caring, friendship, dignity, the intellectual life.

The Perils of Obedience, Stanley Milgram The roles of obedience and authority in our social life. Submission to authority The banality of evil in Milgram’s experiments Findings about authority Physical presence of experimenter. Conflicting authority figures paralyzes action. Rebellion of others undermines authority.

The Moral Insight, Royce We need a clear moral insight, not moral sympathy. The moral insight: My neighbor is a Self. My neighbor and my own future self.

Billy Budd, Melville The killing of Claggart by Billy Budd. Billy did not intend to kill Claggart. The position of Captain Vere: we must adhere to and administer the law, even when our hearts would have us do otherwise.

Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche The herd instinct of obedience. Life is the will to power. Master-morality vs. Slave-morality “Egoism belongs to the essence of a noble soul.” (p. 58) Christianity is a fatal and seductive lie, because it embodies a “morality of paltry people.”