Evil

Here is a review of John Kekes's new book, "The Roots of Evil."

John Kekes's aptly titled book endeavors to identify why moral evil occurs and what (if anything) can be done to lessen its occurrence. Arguing that evil results from combinations of propensities natural to human beings and external conditions that encourage or allow such propensities to operate unchecked, he maintains that a realistic understanding of evil leads us to see that, while endeavoring to eliminate it would be fatuous, we can and should take steps that should lower its incidence.