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

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

100

PONEROLOGY

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.

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

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