Why is there evil, and what can scientific research tell us about the origins and persistence of evil behavior? Considering evil from the unusual perspective of the perpetrator, Baumeister asks, How do ordinary people find themselves beating their wives? Murdering rival gang members? Torturing political prisoners? Betraying their colleagues to the secret police? Why do cycles of revenge so often escalate?
Baumeister casts new light on these issues as he examines the gap between the victim's viewpoint and that of the perpetrator, and also the roots of evil behavior, from egotism and revenge to idealism and sadism. A fascinating study of one of humankind's oldest problems, "Evil" has profound implications for the way we conduct our lives and govern our society.

What is moral progress? Are we striving for moral progress when we seek to 'make the world a better place'? What connects the different ways in which moral agents, their actions, and the world can become morally better? This book proposes an explication of the abstract concept of moral progress and explores its relation to our moral lives. Integrating the perspectives of rival normative theories, it draws a clear distinction between ethical and moral progress and makes the case that moral progress can neither happen merely in theory, nor come about by a fluke. Still, the ideal of moral progress as a deliberate improvement in practices with a positive impact on the world is but one of several types of moral progress, relating in different ways to the theoretical and practical capacities of moral agents. No elevated level of sophistication in these capacities is required for moral progress to be possible, and the abstract idea of moral progress need not be on moral agents' minds in the pursuit of the morally better. However, a desire for impactful moral progress, far from being a moral fetish, marks a particularly valuable moral outlook.

This fine edition of Cicero's treatises on the topics of friendship, old age and life contains the respected translation of E. S. Shuckburgh. Written in the second century A.D., these writings encapsulate the wisdom and ability possessed by their author. Already well into maturity, it is here that the accumulated experience of a man who had - in an illustrious career of public service in the Roman Empire - seen and known all manner of events and people in his bustling society. The attributes important to friendship are identified by Cicero as he discusses the qualities a good friend should have. There are several intractable virtues of friendship, which must be preserved lest the union be damaged. The second treatise elaborates upon what it is to be old. Writing so as to echo the much esteemed Cato the Elder, the beauty and profundity of the words in this essay are significant. The clear and plain yet succinct and wistfully eloquent words elaborate on aging and the concerns that arrive with it.

Most livestock in the United States currently live in cramped and unhealthy confinement, have few stable social relationships with humans or others of their species, and finish their lives by being transported and killed under stressful conditions. In Livestock, Erin McKenna allows us to see this situation and presents alternatives. She interweaves stories from visits to farms, interviews with producers and activists, and other rich material about the current condition of livestock. In addition, she mixes her account with pragmatist and ecofeminist theorizing about animals, drawing in particular on John Dewey's account of evolutionary history, and provides substantial historical background about individual species and about human-animal relations. This deeply informative text reveals that the animals we commonly see as livestock have rich evolutionary histories, species-specific behaviors, breed tendencies, and individual variation, just as those we respect in companion animals such as dogs, cats, and horses. To restore a similar level of respect for livestock, McKenna examines ways we can balance the needs of our livestock animals with the environmental and social impacts of raising them, and she investigates new possibilities for humans to be in relationships with other animals. This book thus offers us a picture of healthier, more respectful relationships with livestock.

In Balanced Wonder: Experiential Sources of Imagination, Virtue, and Human Flourishing, Jan B. W. Pedersen digs deep into the alluring topic of wonder and argues in a scholarly yet accessible way that the experience of wonder when balanced serves as a strong contributor to human flourishing. Along the way Pedersen describes seven properties of wonder and shows how wonder is distinct from other altered states, including awe, horror, the sublime, curiosity, amazement, admiration, and astonishment. Examining the contribution of both emotion and imagination in the experience of wonder--filtered through the Neo-Aristotelian work of philosophers Douglas Rasmussen, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Martha Nussbaum--Pedersen also makes it clear that wonder may contribute to human flourishing in various ways, such as widening of perception, extension of moral scope or sensitivity, a wondrous afterglow, openness, humility, an imaginative attitude, reverence, and gratitude. Importantly, for wonder to act as a strong contributor to human flourishing one needs to wonder at the right thing, in the right amount, in the right time, in the right way, and for the right purpose.