Good and Evil: 12 Philosophers on How to Live, introduced by the host of hit podcast The Rest is Politics

by Andrew Irwin (Editor), Rory Stewart (Introduction)

176 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication April 28, 2026

Reviews

[Jamie Leich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a neat and digestible collection of interestingly arranged philosophy essays, that acts as a pithy introduction to famous philosophers, but leaves wanting on the fundamental and cross cutting questions raised across the essays. Rory Stewart's introduction is a helpful context giver, but does little to tee up the meatier questions that follow. Perhaps an additional conclusion might have been helpful for doing a broader look across all of the philosophers included to explore the questions the book claims to be addressing around good and evil, which often feels like a bolt on. The quality of the essays are mostly strong, and the academics do a good job of writing in an accessible way to explain complex concepts to the common reader, particularly the essays on Simone de Beauvoir, Kierkegaard, and Simone Weil.