In this major new book, Terry Eagleton, one of the world´s greatest cultural theorists, writes with wit, eloquence and clarity on the question of ethics. Providing rare insights into tragedy, politics, literature, morality and religion, Eagleton examines key ethical theories through the framework of Jacques Lacan´s categories of the Imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real, measuring them against the "richer" ethical resources of socialism and the Judaeo-Christian tradition.