Monsters can be part of the moral imagination as a way to define what we don’t want to be. An obvious case would be a jihadi, who cuts off the head of a journalist. But there’s also subtle permutations like Ebenezer Scrooge. Our literature and culture creates icons of immorality, and they help shape…
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Stephen T. Asma
Stephen T. Asma (born 1966) is Professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Scholar at Columbia College Chicago. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science, and Culture at Columbia College Chicago. He works on the philosophy of the life sciences, and the theme of Religion and Science (especially Buddhism and Christianity). Additionally, he works on the philosophy of improvisation and imagination. Asma was a Fulbright Scholar in Beijing China in 2014. He writes regularly for the New York Times, The Stone, and various magazines. 2Personal life Asma also plays music professionally, with various bands, playing blues or jazz. And he has worked as a professional freelance illustrator. 2Publications Following Form and Function: A Philosophical Archaeology of Life Science. Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosoph
I think every person is capable of committing monstrous acts, but true monsters are quite rare.
There’s a xenophobia running through the whole history of monsters. If you’re different from us, we’ll have a disgust-response or will be afraid and on guard. You see that in the ancient world. You see it through the medieval period and all the way up to the present, in the way we cast our enemies.