Good and Evil

Extraordinary. A radical redescription of practical philosophy that imaginatively deploys concepts from a rich tradition, especially Aristotle and German Idealism, to articulate anew the nature of evil and the significance of forgiveness. – Robert Brandom, author of A Spirit of Trust
This remarkable book by Sebastian Rödl about good and evil is, in the deepest sense, thought-provoking. The thinking that it provokes is, however, not moral theorizing but rather a logical investigation of the knowledge of good and evil that each of us already has. Indeed, it is an investigation that exposes moral theorizing as, at best, nonsense and, at worst, a guise of evil. Here the reader will find absolute idealist philosophy at its finest: rigorous, transformative, and utterly fearless. – Paul Franks, author of All or Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism
Sebastian Rödl’s new book concerns practical knowledge, knowledge of good and evil. Strikingly, it offers no theory but translates this knowledge into practical philosophy in a highly illuminating revival of old ideas. It steps beyond naturalistic and Kantian accounts but not to any opposing supernaturalism or particularism. Transcending such oppositions, it expounds the good as the absolute, at once individual and universal, and human life as spiritual life, unfolding in three moments: right, conscience, and the gift of life. – Stephen Engstrom, author of The Form of Practical Knowledge
In Good and Evil, Sebastian Rödl attempts to rethink the very foundations of ethics using the methods of classical German Idealism. The result is a genuinely systematic picture of practical philosophy that demonstrates the often profound ways the German Idealist tradition continues to be relevant to contemporary ethical thought. – Karl Schafer, author of Kant’s Reason
Good and Evil is an epoch-making work of philosophy: accessible, profound, and ambitious in scope. Its central provocation—that ethical life does not unfold within the natural order—poses a bold challenge both to philosophy and to a culture increasingly inclined to seek ethical guidance from the natural sciences. It also constitutes a break with the Aristotelian-inspired naturalism of so much recent ‘analytic German Idealism,’ and toward figures rarely heard from in this movement: for example, Weil and Løgstrop. It would be difficult to overstate the importance and originality of this book. – Jacob McNulty, author of Hegel’s Logic and Metaphysics

Sebastian Rödl, Professor of Philosophy at Leipzig University, is the author of Self-Consciousness and Objectivity, Categories of the Temporal, and Self-Consciousness.

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