Radical Evil from Kant to Nuclearism | Amy Thomas Elder | First Friday Lecture

What does it mean to call nuclear annihilation not just catastrophic or criminal, but evil? In this First Friday lecture, Amy Thomas Elder works through the philosophical and theological history of radical evil, from Augustine and Aquinas through Kant and Arendt to Jonathan Schell's landmark account of the nuclear age, asking whether our current situation represents a threat not only to human life but to humanity itself. Drawing on philosophy, theology, literature, and political thought, Elder develops a "grammar of evil" in the Wittgensteinian sense: a way of seeing that reconfigures what is otherwise too large to think. She traces how Kant transformed Luther's radical sin into a new philosophical concept, how Arendt repurposed that concept to describe totalitarian extermination, and how Schell extended it to the possibility of human self-extinction. Along the way she considers Augustine's privation account of evil, Plato's image of the great beast, and the question of whether humanity could be destroyed even if the species survived. Rather than offering policy prescriptions, the lecture invites a deeper inquiry into how we must think in order to confront what seems unthinkable. A rich question-and-answer period takes up whether radical evil is a distinctly modern phenomenon, whether it can be defeated or only resisted, the relationship between game theory and nuclear evil, comparisons between death camps and nuclear extinction, Oppenheimer and the Bhagavad Gita, McCarthy's Judge Holden, Stanislav Lem on evil and kitsch, and Arendt's claim that thinking itself may inoculate against doing evil. Key Questions What does the word "evil" mean beyond "bad" or "criminal"? How did Kant define radical evil, and how did Arendt transform the term? What makes totalitarian extermination "radical" in Arendt's sense? How does nuclear extinction differ from ordinary destruction? Can humanity be destroyed even if the species survives? What does it mean to resist evil through thinking? Chapters 00:00:10 Welcome, introduction, and Graham School overview 00:04:54 The problem of radical evil and nuclear weapons: framing the lecture 00:07:54 A grammar of evil: Wittgenstein, language, and how to name what defies comprehension 00:19:25 Augustine and Aquinas: the privation account and why evil cannot be radical 00:21:33 Kant's radical evil: from Luther's radical sin to human freedom and will 00:25:40 Arendt and totalitarianism: radical evil, banality, and the origins of extermination 00:36:24 Jonathan Schell and The Fate of the Earth: nuclear extinction as radical evil 00:47:15 Plato's great beast and the failure of political imagination 00:50:55 Making the unthinkable thinkable: resistance through understanding 00:51:30 Q&A: radical evil as a modern phenomenon, whether evil can be defeated, and game theory 01:00:32 Q&A: death camps vs. nuclear extinction, grammar and euphemism, and Oppenheimer 01:09:06 Q&A: Stanislav Lem on evil and kitsch, and Arendt on thinking as resistance 01:15:05 Closing thanks About the Speaker: Ms. Thomas Elder is Claudia Traudt Distinguished Instructor in the Basic Program. She holds a BS in biology and advanced degrees in classics and the study of religion. Her research at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago dealt with allegory and textual interpretation in early Christianity. She has taught in a number of different contexts, including a museum, a Girl Scout camp, middle school, high school, college, and seminary. For many years, she taught in and directed the Odyssey Project, a college-level humanities program for adults living on low incomes, as part of the Bard College Clemente Course. She has been a Basic Program instructor since 1999. About the Basic Program The First Friday Lecture series is presented by the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults. The Basic Program is a four-year certificate program for intellectually curious learners who want to read and discuss the Great Books in a serious, welcoming community. Through close reading and weekly conversation, students engage works of literature, philosophy, history, and social thought by authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Dante, Shakespeare, Woolf, and Morrison—guided by outstanding instructors, with no prerequisites, tests, papers, or grades. Offered online and in person, the program invites adults from all backgrounds to deepen their thinking and join a lifelong community of readers. Learn more at https://graham.uchicago.edu/program/basic-program-of-liberal-education/ About Graham The Graham School is a one-of-a-kind intellectual community that brings the best of the University of Chicago to lifelong learners who are seeking discovery and discernment. Through an array of distinctive programs and courses in the Great Books, the liberal arts, and advanced leadership, we welcome learners who seek to deepen their understanding of the world and lead examined lives of purpose. Learn more at https://graham.uchicago.edu