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

evil was called, correspondingly, “ponerogenesis”. I hope that

these modest beginnings will grow so as to enable us to over-

come evil through an understanding of its nature, causes, and

development.

~~~

From among 5000 psychotic, neurotic, and healthy patients,

the author selected 384 adults who behaved in a manner which

had seriously hurt others. They came from all circles of Polish

society, but mostly from a large industrial center characterized

by poor working conditions and substantial air pollution. They

represented various moral, social, and political attitudes. Some

30 of them had been subjected to penal measures which were

often excessively harsh. Once freed from jail or other penalty,

these people attempted to readapt to social life, which made

them tend to be sincere in speaking to me - the psychologist.

Others had escaped punishment; still others had hurt their fel-

lows in a manner which does not qualify for judicial treatment

under legal theory or practice. Some were protected by a politi-

cal system which is in itself a ponerogenic derivate. The author

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had the further advantage of speaking to persons whose neuro-

ses were caused by some abuse they had experienced.

All the above-mentioned people were given psychological

tests and subjected to detailed anamnesis33 so as to determine

their overall mental skills, thereby either excluding or detecting

possible brain tissue lesions and evaluating them in relation to

one another.34 Other methods were also used in accordance

with the patient’s actual needs in order to create a sufficiently

accurate picture of the psychological condition. In most of

these cases the author had access to the results of medical ex-

aminations and laboratory tests performed in medical facilities.

A psychologist can glean many valuable observations, such

as those used in this work, when he himself is subjected to

abuse, as long as cognitive interest overcomes his natural hu-

man emotional reactions. If not, he must utilize his professional

skills to rescue himself first. The author never lacked for such

opportunities since his unhappy country is replete with exam-

ples of human injustice to which he was, himself, subjected on

numerous occasions.

Analysis of their personalities and the genesis of their be-

havior revealed that only 14 to 16 per cent of the 384 persons

who hurt others failed to exhibit any psychopathological fac-

tors which would have influenced their behavior. Regarding

this statistic, it should be pointed out that a psychologist’s non-

discovery of such factors does not prove their non-existence. In

a significant part of this group of cases, the lack of proof was

rather the result of insufficient interview possibilities, imper-

fection of testing methods, and deficiency of skills on the part

of the tester. Thus, natural reality appeared different in princi-

ple from everyday attitudes, which interpret evil in a moraliz-

ing way, and from juridical practices, which only in a small

33 Medical history: the case history of a medical patient as recalled by the

patient. [Editor’s note.]

34 My basic test battery resembled more those used in Great Britain as op-

posed to the American versions. I used in addition two tests: one was an old

British performance test restandarized for clinical purposes. The other was

completely elaborated by myself. Unfortunately, when I was expelled from

Poland, it made it impossible for me to transfering any of my many results to

other psychologists because I was deprived of all my research papers in

addition to almost everything else.

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101

part of the cases adjudicate a commutation of a sentence by

taking the criminal’s pathological characteristics into account.

We may often reason by means of the exclusionary hy-

pothesis, e.g. pondering what would happen if the genesis of a

particular wrongdoing did not have some pathological compo-

nent. We then usually reach the conclusion that the deed would

not have taken place either since the pathological factor sealed

its occurrence or became an indispensable component in its

origin.

The hypothesis thus suggests itself that such factors are

commonly active in the genesis of evil. The conviction that

pathological factors generally participate in ponerogenic proc-

esses appears even more likely if we also take into account the

conviction of many scholars in ethics that evil in this world

represents a kind of web or continuum of mutual conditioning.

Within this interlocking structure, one kind of evil feeds and

opens doors for others regardless of any individual or doctrinal

motivations. It does not respect the boundaries of individual

cases, social groups, and nations. Since pathological factors are

present within the synthesis of most instances of evil, they are

also present in this continuum.

Further deliberations on the observations thus obtained con-

sidered only a part of the above-mentioned variegated cases,

especially those which did not generate doubt by colliding with

natural moral attitudes, and those which did not reveal practical

difficulties for further analysis (such as absence of further con-

tact with the patient). The statistical approach furnished only

general guidelines. Intuitive penetration into each individual

problem, and a similar synthesis of the whole, proved the most

productive method in this area.

The role of pathological factors in a process of the origin of

evil can be played by any known, or not yet sufficiently re-

searched, psychopathological phenomenon, and also by some

pathological matters medical practice does not include within

psychopathology. However, their activity in a ponerogenic

process is dependent on features other than the obviousness or

intensity of the condition. Quite the contrary, the greatest pon-

erogenic activity is reached by pathological factors at an inten-

sity which generally permits detection with the help of clinical

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methods, although they are not yet considered pathological by

the opinion of the social environment. Such a factor can then

covertly limit the bearer’s ability to control his conduct, or

have an effect upon other persons, traumatizing their psyches,

fascinating them, causing their personalities to develop im-

properly, or inciting vindictive emotions or a lust for punishing.

A moralistic interpretation of such agents and their legacy

works against humankind’s ability to see the causes of evil and

to utilize common sense to combat it. This is why identifying

such pathological factors and revealing their activities can so

often stifle their ponerogenic functions.

In the process of the origin of evil, pathological factors can

act from within an individual who has committed a hurtful act;

such activity is relatively easily acknowledged by public opin-

ion and the courts. Consideration is given much less frequently

to how outside influences emitted by their carriers act upon

individuals or groups. Such influences, however, play a sub-

stantial role in the overall genesis of evil. In order for such

influence to be active, the pathological characteristic in ques-

tion must be interpreted in a moralistic manner, i.e. differently

from its true nature. There are many possibilities for such ac-

tivities. For the moment, let us indicate the most damaging.

Every person in the span of his life, and particularly during

childhood and youth, assimilates psychological material from

others through mental resonance, identification, imitation, and

other communicative means, thereupon transforming it to build

his own personality and world view. If such material is con-

taminated by pathological factors and deformities, personality

development shall also be deformed. The product will be a

person unable to understand correctly either himself and others,

normal human relations and morals; he develops into a person

who commits evil acts with a poor feeling of being faulty. Is he

really at fault?

Man’s age-old, familiar moral weaknesses and intelligence

deficiencies, proper reasoning, and knowledge combine with

the activity of various pathological factors to create a complex

network of causation which frequently contains feedback rela-

tionships or closed causal structures. Practically speaking,

cause and effect are often widely separated in time, which

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103

makes it more difficult to track the links. If our scope of obser-

vation is expansive enough, the ponerogenic processes are

reminiscent of complex chemical synthesis, wherein modifying

a single factor causes the entire process to change. Botanists

are aware of the law of the minimum, wherein plant growth is

limited by contents of the component which is in deficiency in

the soil. Similarly, eliminating (or at least limiting) the activity

of one of the above-mentioned factors or deficiencies should

cause a corresponding reduction in the entire process of the

genesis of evil.

For centuries, moralists have been advising us to develop

ethics and human values; they have been searching for the

proper intellectual criteria. They have also respected correct-

ness of reasoning, whose value in this area is unquestionable.

In spite of all their efforts, however, they have been unable to

overcome the many kinds of evil that have scourged humanity

for ages and that are presently taking on unheard-of propor-

tions.

By no means does a ponerologist wish to belittle the role of

moral values and knowledge in this area; rather, he wants to

buttress it with hitherto-underrated scientific knowledge in

order to round out the picture as a whole and adapt it better to

reality, thereby making more effective action possible in moral,

psychological, social, and political practice.

This new discipline is thus primarily interested in the role of

pathological factors in the origin of evil, especially since con-

scious control and monitoring of them on the scientific, social,

and individual levels could effectively stifle or disarm these

processes. Something which has been impossible for centuries

is now feasible in practice thanks to progress in naturalistic

cognizance. Methodological refinements are dependent upon

further progress in detailed data and upon the conviction that

such behavior is valuable.

For instance, in the course of psychotherapy, we may in-

form a patient that in the genesis of his personality and behav-

ior we find the results of influences from some person who

revealed psychopathological characteristics. We thereby carry

out an intervention that is painful for the patient, which de-

mands we proceed with tact and skill. As a result of this inter-

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action, however, the patient develops a kind of self-analysis

which will liberate him from the results of these influences and

enable him to develop some critical distance in dealing with

other factors of a similar nature. Rehabilitation will depend on

improving his ability to understand himself and others. Thanks

to this, he will be able to overcome his internal and interper-

sonal difficulties more easily and to avoid mistakes which hurt

him and his immediate environment.

Pathological Factors

Let us now attempt a concise description of some examples

of those pathological factors which have proved to be the most

active in ponerogenic processes. Selection of these examples

resulted from the author’s own experience, instead of exhaus-

tive statistical tallies, and may thus differ from other special-

ists’ evaluations. Much depends on particular situation. A small

amount of statistical data concerning these phenomena has

been borrowed from other works or are approximate evalua-

tions elaborated under conditions which did not allow the entire

front of research to be developed. Again, may the reader please

consider the conditions under which the author worked, and the

time and place.

Mention should also be made of some historical figures,

people whose pathological characteristics contributed to the

process of the genesis of evil on a large social scale, imprinting

their mark upon the fate of nations. It is not an easy task to

establish diagnosis for people whose psychological anomalies

and diseases died together with them. The results of such clini-

cal analyses are open to question even by persons lacking

knowledge or experience in this area, only because recognizing

such a state of mind does not correspond to their historical or

literary way of thought. While this is done on the basis of the

legacy of natural and often moralizing language, I can only

assert that I always based my findings on comparisons of data

acquired through numerous observations I made by studying

many similar patients with the help of the objective methods of

contemporary clinical psychology. I took the critical approach

herein as far as possible. The opinions of specialists elaborated

in a similar way nevertheless remain valuable.

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Acquired Deviations

Brain tissue is very limited in its regenerative ability. If it is

damaged and the change subsequently heals, a process of reha-

bilitation can take place wherein the neighboring healthy tissue

takes over the function of the damaged portion. This substitu-

tion is never quite perfect; thus some deficits in skill and proper