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

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-

104

PONEROLOGY

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.

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

105

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

psychological processes can be detected in even cases of very

small damage by using the appropriate tests. Specialists are

aware of the variegated causes for the origin of such damage,

including trauma and infections. We should point out here that

the psychological results of such changes, as we can observe

many years later, are more heavily dependent upon the location

of the damage itself in the brain mass, whether on the surface

or within, than they are upon the cause which brought them

about. The quality of these consequences also depends upon

when they occurred in the person’s lifetime. Regarding patho-

logical factors of ponerogenic processes, perinatal or early

infant damages have more active results than damages which

occurred later.

In societies with highly developed medical care, we find

among the lower grades of elementary school (when tests can

be applied), that 5 to 7 per cent of children have suffered brain

tissue lesions which cause certain academic or behavioral diffi-

culties. This percentage increases with age. Modern medical

care has contributed to a quantitative decrease in such phenom-

ena, but in certain relatively uncivilized countries and during

historical times, indications of difficulties caused by such

changes are and have been more frequent.

Epilepsy and its many variations constitute the oldest

known results of such lesions; it is observed in a relatively