Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes - Andrew Lobaczewski

[Editor’s note.]

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

39

alert reader would be able to detect a certain degree of evolu-

tion in the authors’ attitudes, from an ancient affirmation of

primitive enslavement and murder of vanquished peoples, to

the present-day moralizing condemnation of such methods of

behavior.

Such a library would nevertheless be missing a single work

offering a sufficient explanation of the causes and processes

whereby such historical dramas originate, of how and why

human frailties and ambitions degenerate into bloodthirsty

madness. Upon reading the present volume, the reader will

realize that writing such a book was scientifically impossible

until recently.

The old questions would remain unanswered: what made

this happen? Does everyone carry the seeds of crime within, or

is it only some of us? No matter how faithful and psychologi-

cally true, no literary description of occurrences, such as those

narrated by the above-mentioned authors, can answer these

questions, nor can they fully explain the origins of evil. They

are thus incapable of furnishing sufficiently effective principles

for counter-acting evil. The best literary description of a dis-

ease cannot produce an understanding of its essential etiology,

and thus furnishes no principles for treatment. In the same way,

such descriptions of historical tragedies are unable to elaborate

effective measures for counteracting the genesis, existence, or

spread of evil.

In using natural7 language to circumscribe psychological,

social, and moral concepts which cannot properly be described

within its sphere of utility, we produce a sort of surrogate com-

prehension leading to a nagging suspicion of helplessness. Our

natural system of concepts and imaginings is not equipped with

the necessary factual content to permit reasoned comprehen-

sion of the quality of the factors (particularly the psychological

ones) which were active before the birth of, and during, such

inhumanly cruel times

We must nevertheless point out that the authors of such lit-

erary descriptions sensed that their language was insufficient

and therefore attempted to infuse their words with the proper

7 Ordinary, everyday words which have various meanings, generally benign,

and often do not embrace a specific, scientific meaning. [Editor’s note.]

40

INTRODUCTION

scope of precision, almost as though they foresaw that someone

– at some point in time - might use their works in order to ex-

plain what cannot be explained, not even in the best literary

language. Had these writers not been so precise and descriptive

in their language, this author would have been unable to use

their works for his own scientific purposes.

In general, most people are horrified by such literature; in

hedonistic societies particularly, people have the tendency to

escape into ignorance or naive doctrines. Some people even

feel contempt for suffering persons. The influence of such

books can thus be partially harmful; we should counteract that

influence by indicating what the authors had to leave out be-

cause our ordinary world of concepts and imaginings cannot

contain it.

The reader will therefore find herein no bloodcurdling de-

scriptions of criminal behavior or human suffering. It is not the

author’s job to present a graphic return of material adduced by

people who saw and suffered more than he did, and whose

literary talents are greater. Introducing such descriptions into

this work would run counter to its purpose: it would not only

focus attention on some occurrences to the exclusion of many

others, but would also distract the mind from the real heart of

the matter, namely, the general laws of the origin of evil.

In tracking the behavioral mechanisms of the genesis of

evil, one must keep both abhorrence and fear under control,

submit to a passion for epistemological science, and develop

the calm outlook needed in natural history. We must never lose

sight of the objective: to trace the processes of ponerogenesis;

where they can lead and what threat they can pose to us in the

future.

This book therefore aims to take the reader by the hand into

a world beyond the concepts and imaginings he has relied on to

describe his world since childhood, in an overly egotistic way,

probably because his parents, surroundings, and the community

of his country used concepts similar to his own. Thereafter, we

must show him an appropriate selection from the world of fac-

tual concepts which have given birth to recent scientific think-

ing and which will allow him an understanding of what has

remained irrational in his everyday system of concepts.

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

41

However, this tour of another reality will not be a psycho-

logical experiment conducted upon readers’ minds for the sole

purpose of exposing the weak points and gaps in their natural

world view. Rather, it an urgent necessity due to our contempo-

rary world’s pressing problems, which we can ignore only at

our peril.

It is important to realize that we cannot possibly distinguish

the path to nuclear catastrophe from the path to creative dedica-

tion unless we step beyond this world of natural egotism and

well known concepts. Then we can come to the understanding

that the path was chosen for us by powerful forces, against

which our nostalgia for homey, familiar human concepts can be

no match. We must step beyond this world of everyday, illu-

sory thinking for our own good and for the good of our loved

ones.

The social sciences have already elaborated their own con-

ventional language which mediates between the ordinary man’s

view and a fully objective naturalistic view. It is useful to sci-

entists in terms of communication and cooperation, but it is still

not the kind of conceptual structure which can fully take into

account the biological, psychological, and pathological prem-

ises at issue in the second and fourth chapters of this book. In

the social sciences, the conventional terminology eliminates

critical standards and puts ethics on ice; in the political sci-

ences, it leads to an underrated evaluation of factors which

describe the essence of political situations when evil is at the

core.

This social science language left the author and other inves-

tigators feeling helpless and scientifically stranded early in our

research on the mysterious nature of this inhuman historical

phenomenon which engulfed our nation, and still fires his at-

tempts to reach an objective understanding of it. Ultimately, I

had no choice but to resort to objective biological, psychologi-

cal, and psychopathological terminology in order to bring into

focus the true nature of the phenomenon, the heart of matter.

The nature of the phenomena under investigation as well as

the needs of readers, particularly those unfamiliar with psycho-

pathology, dictate the descriptive manner which must first in-

troduce the data and concepts necessary for further comprehen-

42

INTRODUCTION

sion of psychologically and morally pathological occurrences.

We shall thus begin with human personality questions, inten-

tionally formulated in such a way as to coincide largely with

the experience of a practicing psychologist, passing then to

selected questions of societal psychology. In the “ponerology”

chapter, we shall familiarize ourselves with how evil is born

with regard to each social scale, emphasizing the actual role of

some psychopathological phenomena in the process of ponero-

genesis. This will facilitate the transition from natural language

to the necessary objective language of naturalistic, psychologi-

cal, and statistical science to the extent that is necessary and

sufficient. Hopefully, it will not be irksome for readers to dis-

cuss these matters in clinical terms.

In the author’s opinion, Ponerology reveals itself to be a

new branch of science born out of historical need and the most

recent accomplishments of medicine and psychology. In the

light of objective naturalistic language, it studies the causal

components and processes of the genesis of evil, regardless of

the latter’s social scope. We may attempt to analyze these pon-

erogenic processes which have given rise to human injustice,

armed with proper knowledge, particularly in the area of psy-

chopathology. Again and again, as the reader will discover, in

such a study, we meet with the effects of pathological factors

whose carriers are people characterized by some degree of

various psychological deviations or defects.

Moral evil and psychobiological evil are, in effect, inter-

linked via so many causal relationships and mutual influences

that they can only be separated by means of abstraction. How-

ever, the ability to distinguish them qualitatively can help us to

avoid a moralizing interpretation of the pathological factors, an

error to which we are all prone, and which poisons the human

mind in an insidious way, whenever social and moral affairs

are at issue.

The ponerogenesis of macrosocial phenomena – large scale

evil - which constitutes the most important object of this book,

appears to be subject to the same laws of nature that operate

within human questions on an individual or small-group level.

The role of persons with various psychological defects and

anomalies of a clinically low level appears to be a perennial

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

43

characteristic of such phenomena. In the macrosocial phe-

nomenon we shall later call “pathocracy”, a certain hereditary

anomaly isolated as “essential psychopathy” is catalytically and

causatively essential for the genesis and survival of large scale

social evil.

Our natural human world view actually creates a barrier to

our understanding of such questions, thus, it is necessary to be

familiar with psychopathological phenomena, such as those

encountered in this field, in order to breach that barrier. May

then the readers please forgive the author’s occasional lapses

along this innovative path and fearlessly follow his lead, famil-

iarizing themselves rather systematically with the data adduced

in the first few chapters. Thus, we shall be able to accept the

truth of the nature of evil without reflex protests on the part of

our natural egotism.

Specialists familiar with psychopathology will find the road

less novel. They will, however, notice some differences in in-

terpreting several well known phenomena, resulting in part

from the anomalous situations under which the research was

done, but mostly from the more intensive penetration needed to

achieve the primary purpose. That is why this aspect of our

work contains certain theoretical values useful for psychopa-

thology. Hopefully, non-specialists will depend upon the

author’s long experience in distinguishing individual psycho-

logical anomalies found among people and factored into the

process of the genesis of evil.

It should be pointed out that considerable moral, intellec-

tual, and practical advantages can be gleaned from an under-

standing of the ponerogenic processes thanks to the naturalistic

objectivity required. The long-term heritage of ethical ques-

tions is thereby not destroyed; quite the contrary, it is rein-

forced, since modern scientific methods confirm the basic val-

ues of moral teachings. However, ponerology forces some cor-

rections upon many details.

Understanding the nature of macrosocial pathological phe-

nomena permits us to find a healthy attitude and perspective

toward them, thus assisting us in protecting our minds from

being poisoned by their diseased contents and the influence of

their propaganda. The unceasing counter-propaganda resorted

44

INTRODUCTION

to by some countries with a normal human system could easily

be superseded by straightforward information of a scientific

and popular scientific nature on the subject. The bottom line is

that we can only conquer this huge, contagious social cancer if

we comprehend its essence and its etiological causes. This

would eliminate the mystery of this phenomenon as its primary

survival asset. Ignota nulla curatio morbi!8

Such an understanding of the nature of the phenomena that

this study brings forward leads to the logical conclusion that

the measures for healing and reordering the world today should

be completely different from the ones heretofore used for solv-

ing international conflicts. Solutions to such conflicts should

function more like modern antibiotics, or, even better, psycho-

therapy properly handled, rather than taking the approach of

old-style weapons such as clubs, swords, tanks or nuclear mis-

siles. Healing social problems should be the objective, not de-

stroying society. An analogy can be drawn between the archaic

method of bleeding a patient as opposed to the modern method

of strengthening and restoring the ill one in order to effect the

cure.

With reference to phenomena of a ponerogenic nature, mere

proper knowledge alone can begin healing individual humans

and helping their minds regain harmony. Toward the end of

this book, we shall be discussing how to use this knowledge in

order to arrive at the correct political decisions and apply it to