The Order of Evils: Toward an Ontology of Morals

by Adi Ophir

What remains of moral judgment when truth itself is mistrusted, when the validity of every belief system depends on its context, when power and knowledge are inextricably entangled? Is a viable moral theory still possible in the wake of the postmodern criticism of modern philosophy? The Order of Evils responds directly to these questions and dilemmas with one simple and brilliant change of focus.

Rather than concentrating on the age-old themes of justice and freedom, Adi Ophir offers a moral theory that foregrounds the existential and political nature of Evil. Ophir’s main contention is that evil is neither a diabolical element residing in the hearts of men nor a meaningless absence of the good. Rather, it is the socially structured order of “superfluous evils.”

Evils, like pain, suffering, loss, and humiliation, are superfluous when they could have ― but have not ― been prevented. Through close analysis of seminal works by modern and postmodern philosophers ― from Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Sartre, and Arendt to Foucault, Lévinas, Derrida, and Lyotard ― Ophir forges a new perspective for thinking about what it means to be a moral being; to be moral, he argues, is to care for others and to be committed to preventing, at all costs, their suffering and distress.

A theoretically sophisticated work, The Order of Evils also bears the traces of Ophir’s own political and personal experiences as an Israeli philosopher and activist. Two major events in recent Jewish history have profoundly influenced his the Holocaust and the prolonged Israeli domination of Palestinians in the occupied territories, both of which are interpreted within the author’s moral framework as systematic productions of evils.

Ophir does not compare the two events. Instead, he introduces a typology of disasters that allows them to be located within the wide spectrum of human-generated calamities whose specificity and general patterns emerge clearly and distinctly as what they are and are not.

Genres: Philosophy

704 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2005

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

from my novel, Dear Layla Welcome to Palestine

Reading/6 (Theory and Practice/3 [Interference])

Dear Tanya

Adi Ophir is an Israeli philosopher
And peace activist
He wrote a 700 page tome entitled
The Order of Evils:
Toward an Ontology of Morals

I needed months to read it
I took fifty pages of notes
I figured as long as I have on earth
I’ll be trying to integrate it

Here’s one passage:
Suffering that is not prevented or relieved is an evil; damage that is not prevented or compensated for is an evil; when evil can be prevented but is not, can be relieved but isn’t, it is a superfluous evil.

And another:
This [moral] theory arises from one simple insight: people cause other people many evils—intentionally and unintentionally, knowingly and unknowingly, alone and in company with others.

A third:
What renders giving its moral meaning, lets it appear as a moral act, is always the situation of the other in need, who is the object and the addressee of moral care, not the situation of the one who cares for the other.

And last:
To be “inside the moral” is to have an interest in the superfluous evils others suffer from, but also an interest in the production and distribution of these evils. A moral action is dead set on disrupting these orders so as to lessen evils and reduce their harm.

Henry knows that the suffering of and damage to the Palestinians
Could be prevented but isn’t
What matters morally
Is what the Palestinians are going through:
The collection of superfluous evils
That the United States and Israel
Produces and distributes
Intentionally and unintentionally
Knowingly and unknowingly

Henry is determined to get on one of those boats to Gaza
To be dead set on disrupting
The order of evil imposed on the Palestinian people

Your Professor-Friend