Melissa Purgert

Dr. Gatti
COR 499
20 October 2016
Annotated Bibliography
Alford, C. Fred. "The Political Psychology of Evil." Political Psychology 18, no. 1 (1997): 1-17.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3791981.
In effort to provide insight from a political perspective, Alford, a Professor of
Government at the University of Maryland, focuses on the political psychology of evil.
This article describes a study in which subjects were interviewed about evil. Through
analysis of the data Alford concludes that the common perception of evil is as an ethical
problem. Alford then elaborates on how to take this information and apply it to larger,
relevant situations, which for this project can be implemented to analyze the different
circumstances of evil.
Berger, A. (2012). The Evil EyeAn Ancient Superstition. Journal of Religion and
Health, 51(4), 1098-1103. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23352769
Allan Berger, a professor from the Department of Psychiatry at the Georgetown
University School of Medicine, discusses the superstition that coincides with the Evil
Eye. To provide the audience with background, Allan relates his own personal childhood,
later elaborating on his scholarly inquisition. In which he answers questions on the folk
beliefs from various cultures and countries. For studying evil in various settings, this
provides a good starting point of what the Evil Eye has been across periods and places.
*Bernstein, Mark. "Explaining Evil." Religious Studies 34, no. 2 (1998): 151-63.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20008153.
Bernstein provides a perception of evil from viewpoint of religion. As a member of the
faculty at Purdue University, Bernstein specializes in areas of applied ethics and
metaphysics. This work attempts to explain evil that exists and whether or not the
presence of a Supreme Being is possible with the existence of evil. This source is ideal
for considering the basic question what is evil, and how evil may be seen from a religious
perspective.1
Buchholz, Ester S., and Joshua K. Mandel. "Reaching for Virtue, Stumbling on Sin: Concepts of
Good and Evil in a Postmodern Era." Journal of Religion and Health 39, no. 2 (2000):
123-42. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27511434.
Buchholz and Mandel attempt to understand good and evil in Western society by using
the lenses of early Judaism and Christianity. Buchholz focused in the Applied
Psychology Department and Mandel in Child and School Psychology, both at NYU.
These authors focus on the psychology and psychoanalysis to uncover this information

Mark Bernstein, Explaining Evil, Religious Studies 34.2 (1998): 151-63

about good and evil. These insights enable them to form definitions for good and evil,
and determine whether evil actions are a choice that humans make.
Catanzaro, Raimondo. "The Mafia." Italian Politics 1 (1986): 87-101.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43039574.
Catanzaro explains the Mafia throughout history and gives insight into the tradition and
innovation in the Mafia, and how those different elements have formed what it is. In
addition, Catanzaro touches on the internal struggles within the Mafia and how the
organization itself is rather peculiar and differs from terrorism despite convictions. This
provides a perspective of what the mafia is, a starting point to understanding how it could
be viewed as evil.
Cayli, Baris. "Resistance against the Mafia: A Civic Struggle to Defy an Uncontestable
Power." Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 21, no. 1 (2012): 103-25.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43234550.
Working at The Scottish Centre of Crime and Justice Research, Cayli completed research
on resistance against the Mafia. In this work, he presents a study based on a protest
against the Mafia in Rome of 2009. This essay provides information on social protest,
law, and how individual motivation can become a grander collective effort. Through this
source one can understand why the Mafia is disliked and how that may coincide with the
Mafia being deemed as evil.
Hocart, A. M. "The Mechanism of the Evil Eye." Folklore 49, no. 2 (1938): 156-57.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1257766.
Hocart discusses that the Evil Eye is typically known for survival and that most people
are unaware of how it works. By informing the audience of how the evil eye has
associations with magic, and the prevalence of the evil eye specifically in Egypt. This
provides a good starting point to understand how the evil eye is viewed, which varies
from evil to divine.
Formosa, Paul. "Understanding Evil Acts." Human Studies 30, no. 2 (2007): 57-77.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27642783.
Formosa recognizes that in most circumstances evil acts are perplexing to humans. With
a PHD from the University of Queensland, Formosa has written several publications with
the focus on evil. Throughout the course of this work, Formosa works to inform his
audience of how to understand peoples motivation behind evil acts and why people
should want to understand this motivation. With this focus on Human Studies, Formosa
then enables his audience to conclude how to accept evil acts in the past, and perhaps
how to prevent such occurrences in the future.
Perrett, Roy W. "Evil and Human Nature." The Monist 85, no. 2 (2002): 304-19.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27903774.
Perrett works to define what evil is by introducing the morally sinister connotation that
coincides with it; meaning that evil is much more than bad, it is an entire category in
which there are qualifications for. Based on Perretts insight for an act to be considered
evil it much fit four different qualifications all of which reflect motivation, pleasure, and

lack of guilt in committing of a crude act. This source provides a very clear cut way of
defining evil by providing categories and lists which can be used to reference whether an
act is evil, and provokes us to consider whether evil can be defined in this way.
Singer, Marcus G. "The Concept of Evil." Philosophy 79, no. 308 (2004): 185-214.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3751971.
With a focus in philosophy, Singer argues that in order to understand evil and define it,
we must study it through the lens of philosophy. With an argument centered around how
evil is an overgeneralized term that should not be defined simply as the opposite of good,
but rather something much greater. For according to Singer, whether something is evil
varies depending on the situation; if a person consciously commits the evil act that is an
evil person, whereas inadvertently committing the evil act warrants the qualification as an
evil action.
Stille, Alexander. The Pope Excommunicates the Mafia, Finally. The New Yorker (New York,
NY), June 24, 2014.
This news article reveals the event of Pope Francis excommunicating members of the
mafia due to their adoration of evil. In addition, this article reveals not only the presentday relations between the Church and the Mafia, but expands on the history, which
includes the Mafia using Catholicism in manipulative ways to gain legitimacy.
Furthermore, this article elaborates on evil actions committed by the Mafia and Pope
John Paul II being the first to speak out against the Mafia.
Suetonius, Robert Graves, and Michael Grant. 1978. The Twelve Caesars. Penguin classics;
Penguin classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
A Roman historian who lived from 69-140 AD, is well known for his work about the
Twelve Caesars. This work is a biography of the emperors ranging from Augustus all the
way to Domitian. While Suetonius writing is a biased history, it provides insight into
each of the emperors lives and enables the audience to learn more about each of them.
For the purpose of this project, the emperors often deemed as most cruel, Caligula and
Nero, will be the main focus from this work.