The Atrocity Paradigm

In this groundbreaking book, noted philosopher and feminist Claudia Card presents a workable theory of evil, examining in particular human atrocities - acts of cruelty committed by human beings on others. Unlike natural disasters or morally ambiguous acts, Card describes atrocities as the wrongful infliction of harm -- in the form of rape, genocide, slavery, torture, and child abuse, for example - upon innocent and undeserving human beings. Focusing on the victims' points of view, she uses atrocities to examine the nature of evil because they are the most telling representation of the notion of deliberate wrongdoing resulting in terrible harm. As a crucial contribution to the history of moral philosophy, this study is unprecedented and will be widely read by ethicists, moral theorists, philosophers of religion, and readers interested in human behavior.