Understanding Evil
Subtitle: Lessons from Bosnia
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Published: November 15, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 152
ISBN-13: 9780823227006
Subjects: Metaphysics & ontology; Violence in Society; War crimes; Europe - Former Soviet Republics; Philosophy; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Eastern Europe - Balkan Republics; Good & Evil; Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Eastern Europe - General; Bosnia and Hercegovina; Crimes against humanity; Social justice
Description: "Understanding Evil seeks to articulate the evil that happened in Bosnia within the context of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Its analysis centers on the question of whether it is possible to understand evil as action." "The book understands evil via a neologism - sociocide, the murdering of society. In Bosnia, not only were families destroyed but their homes as well. Not only were bridges, libraries, schools, mosques, and churches demolished, but towns and cities were obliterated. Bosnian Muslims were murdered behind the mindless rhetoric of "ethnic cleansing," and their history and collective memory were viciously attacked. In the first case, the social violence is called "domicide"; in the second, "urbicide"; and in the third, "genocide." In Bosnia, however, war took on a truly twisted orientation. Not only were social structures and institutions attacked, but society itself became the target. The book develops the significance of sociocide as the consequence of evil in order to understand the suffering and tragedy of people and communities in Bosnia."--BOOK JACKET.