Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains Augustine’s metaphysical optimism and moral pessimism, and the tremendous influence of Augustine’s ideas. It examines how Hobbes is able to hold that sin is essentially man’s violation of the rule of law, laid down by the civil sovereign, while at the same time holding that God, though the cause of evil in the world, can never sin, for that would indeed require – as Aquinas argued – a higher law. The book shows how the possibility of immoral actions poses a challenge for the Kantian system, and how this leads Kant to his theory of radical evil. It argues that Marquis de Sade’s sadism is essentially unjustifiable and hence a problem for Sade himself and that his recognition of this failure is precisely what gives his project its exuberant and frantic character.