As a culture, we are fascinated by evil. From Stephen King's fiction to movies such as The Silence of the Lambs, much of
American culture invites us into the word of murder, mayhem, and the horrific. But what is evil, really? Is it part of human nature? Is it created by society? Why do ordinary people sometimes do evil things? During the Holocaust, for example, many concentration camp guards went home and were "good" fathers and husbands. How can we explain this? Can anyone, under the right circumstances, be pushed into doing terrible things, or were these people "different" in some way? Through an exploration of literature, film, philosophy, and psychology and an exploration of our own experiences of good and evil, we will try to understand better the line between good and evil and why we often are tempted to cross that line.