What is the relationship between closeness and evil? Is today.s environmental crisis a kind of evil? And can an ethics based on closeness contribute to tackling such a crisis?

The 19 contributors in this book write about these and other matters from the outlook of a wide range of disciplines. They do so both inspired by and critically engaging with Arne Johan Vetlesen. The authors explore some of Vetlesen.s many and diverse academic interests and interdisciplinary works over more than 30 years.

Vetlesen is by many acknowledged as Norway.s most important philosopher today along with being a respected professor and an important public intellectual. This Festschrift is published to honor Vetlesen on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.