The Vivisection of Evil: Its Roots, Nature, Methods, and the Ethics of Combating it

  • Introduction to The Vivisection of Evil

    This blog is devoted to the presentation of my book (available here as a PDF, and at Amazon Kindle), and the discussion surrounding it. The book itself is placed in the public domain, and may be copied freely. I hope that you find it thought-provoking, instructive and useful. The following is the thesis: Christians have…

  • Societal Moral (Dis-)agreement

    Back in the twentieth century, the idea of moral relativism must have seemed like a good idea. Supposedly we could throw off old restrictions (usually regarding sex), and just enjoy life. But moral relativism always destroys moral agreement—something we need just to enable us to get along. If we lack that, we suffer in many…

  • A Large-scale Historical Attempt at Revenge

    Dina Porat presents an excellent case-study study of large-scale revenge, particular when fails. (This a from a review of Dina Porat’s book, Nakam: The Holocaust Survivors Who Sought Full-Scale Revenge as reviewed by Daniel Kraft, “The Failed Plot to Kill 6 Million Germans in the Wake of WWII: A new history of a group of…

  • Suicidal Passivity

    As an example of passivity combined with non-violent resistance on a large scale, consider something Gandhi–whose name is nearly synonymous with passive resistance–wrote in 1940: I do not want Britain to be defeated, nor do I want her to be victorious in a trial of brute strength, whether expressed through the muscle or the brain.…

  • An Asymmetry of Evil over Good

    People have found creative uses for the asymmetries between good and evil. (See Chapter IX of the book here.) One example is in the tactics of the mid-twentieth century community organizer Saul Alinsky. He pioneered methods of agitating for social change, publishing his advice as the book Rules for Radicals. Many radical groups have copied…