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Knowing good and evil ... (genesis 3.5b)

Erazim Kohák

pp. 243-254

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to undertake a Husserlian inquiry into the experiential foundations of good and evil. Specifically, we shall seek to address the question whether the distinction of good and evil—which we shall understand as a distinction between what is to be sought and cherished and what is to be shunned and avoided—is an arbitrary one or whether it reflects some more basic experiential distinction. We shall claim that Husserl's basic insight that reality is primordially a Lebenswelt, a Welt des Lebens, enables us to claim that the distinction of good and evil does indeed have an ontological justification: some things sustain life, others destroy it.

Publication details

Published in:

Gavroglu Kostas, Stachel John, Wartofsky Mark W (1995) Science, mind and art: essays on science and the humanistic understanding in art, epistemology, religion and ethics in honor of Robert s. cohen. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 243-254

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-011-0469-2_14

Full citation:

Kohák Erazim (1995) „Knowing good and evil ... (genesis 3.5b)“, In: K. Gavroglu, J. Stachel & M.W. Wartofsky (eds.), Science, mind and art, Dordrecht, Springer, 243–254.