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Northwest Passage Books presents:

Philosophy of Cruelty

Collected Philosophical Essays
by Giorgio Baruchello

  • Paperback, $19.95 USD.
  • Purchase from Amazon

“Baruchello’s Philosophy of Cruelty, the second collection of his essays, turns a difficult and emotionally charged topic into a surprisingly informative and enlightening read. Covering the history of Western philosophy’s treatment of cruelty as a topic, yet relating every point to present-day occasions of violence and injustice, this book is a touchstone for any discussion of cruelty as a philosophical theme. It pulls no punches, yet it leaves you standing taller.”

--Brendan Myers,
author of The Other Side of Virtue and Reclaiming Civilization.

Table of Contents

PART I – Debating Cruelty

Chapter 1: Two Questions about Cruelty
Chapter 2: Three Perspectives on Cruelty
Chapter 3: Two Questions about Liberalism of Fear

PART II – Cruelty in the History of Thought

Chapter 4: No Pain, No Gain. The Understanding of Cruelty in Western Philosophy
Chapter 5: The Politics of Cruelty: On Sade and Nietzsche
Chapter 6: Ordinary Hell. Reflections on Penal Justice between Dante and Nils Christie

PART III – LIBERA NOS A CRUDELITATE

Chapter 7: Disciplinary Divisions and Petty Academics. In Memory of Richard Rorty (1931–2007)
Chapter 8: The Ironic and Painful Cornering of Liberalism of Fear
Chapter 9: Enemies of Interculturalism. The Economic Crisis in Light of Xenophobia, Liberal Cruelties and Human Rights

Born in Genoa, Italy, Giorgio Baruchello is an Icelandic citizen and works as Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Akureyri, Iceland. He read philosophy in Genoa and Reykjavík, Iceland, and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Guelph, Canada. His publications encompass several different areas, especially social philosophy, theory of value, and intellectual history. Since 2005 he edits Nordicum-Mediterraneum: The Icelandic E-Journal of Nordic and Mediterranean Studies.