The Roots of Evil

This is an interesting, systematic, nondogmatic, and informed attempt to make sense of evil on secular grounds. -Times Literary Supplement

The principal value of The Roots of Evil is that the author squarely faces the challenge of evil, a task of no small importance when Islamofascism and much else are testing the mettle of the West. While some obsess over the 'root causes' of the appalling things people do to one another, Kekes reminds us that evil actions find their origin in the individual. His book closes with some sensible if currently unfashionable recommendations for coping with evil: attending to its internal conditions by exposing people to the humanities and attending to its external conditions by a firm commitment to punishment. Indeed, the book contains much by way of sturdy good sense. -The New Criterion

Since it reflects aspects of human nature-envy, ambition, the need for belonging-evil is a permanent threat. We can best combat it, John Kekes believes, by cultivating 'moral imagination.' . . . An education in the litearary and philosophical classics helps nourish the moral imagination. . . . There is much to admire in this lucid and morally serious book. Its concreteness sets it apart from the arid abstraction of many works of analytic philosophy. Its insistence on the existence of evil is refreshing in an age of academic relativism. Its modest conclusions are wise and generally right. -First Things

Evil is here defined as harm in excess and examined with the lucidity and clarity that distinguish John Kekes's books. His focus is on the thrill of evil, and his examples are stunning. This is a work of philosophy for every serious reader. -Harvey C. Mansfield, Professor of Government, Harvard University

This is a wonderful book. The writing is beautifully clear, brisk, and memorable. The organization of the argument is excellent, and the surefootedness and balance throughout are admirable. John Kekes provides a thoroughly secular account of the nature and sources of evil as opposed to ordinary wrongs. -Lawrence Becker, author of A New Stoicism