THE ROOTS OF MORAL EVIL

In the realm of moral philosophy, Dietrich von Hildebrand’s Ethics has long been considered a cornerstone text, thought to represent the whole of Hildebrand’s profound insights on moral evil; yet, The Roots of Moral Evil, Martin Cajthaml’s latest scholarly endeavour, reveals there is much more to Hildebrand’s discourse on moral evil than was previously known.

“We find in this volume many significant developments and amplifications of Hildebrand’s published thoughts on moral evil. The result is as if a dialogue of Plato, long thought to be lost, has been found.”

John F. Crosby, from the Foreword

Dietrich Richard Alfred von Hildebrand was a German Roman Catholic philosopher and religious writer.  Pope Pius XII called Hildebrand "the twentieth-century Doctor of the Church".  He was a leading philosopher in the realist phenomenological and personalist movements, producing works in every major field of philosophy, including ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophical anthropology, social philosophy, and aesthetics.

Benedict XVI also had a particular admiration and regard for Hildebrand, who knew Ratzinger as a young priest in Munich: "When the intellectual history of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century is written, the name of Dietrich von Hildebrand will be most prominent among the figures of our time."

Hildebrand is known for his consistent public opposition to Nazism before and during World War II.