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

At the same time, many other readers critically reject such

works with moral disgust but without being aware of the spe-

cific cause.

An analysis of the role played by Karl Marx’s works easily

reveals all the above-mentioned types of apperception and the

social reactions which engendered animosity between large

groups of people.

When reading any of those disturbingly divisive works, we

should examine them carefully for any of these characteristic

deficits, or even an openly formulated schizoid declaration.

Such a process will enable us to gain a proper critical distance

from the contents and make it easier to dig the potentially valu-

able elements out of the doctrinaire material. If this is done by

two or more people who represent greatly divergent interpreta-

tions, their methods of perception will come closer together,

and the causes of dissent will dissipate. Such a project might be

attempted as a psychological experiment and for purposes of

proper mental hygiene.

~~~

Essential psychopathy: Within the framework of the above

assumptions, let us characterize another heredity-transmitted

anomaly whose role in ponerogenic processes on any social

scale appears exceptionally great. We should also underscore

that the need to isolate this phenomenon and examine it in de-

tail became quickly and profoundly evident to those research-

ers – including the author - who were interested in the macro-

126

PONEROLOGY

social scale of the genesis of evil, because they witnessed it. I

acknowledge my debt to Kazimierz Dabrowski50 in doing this

and calling this anomaly an “essential psychopathy”.

Biologically speaking, the phenomenon is similar to color-

blindness but occurs with about ten times lower frequency

(slightly above 1/2%),51 except that, unlike color blindness, it

affects both sexes. Its intensity also varies in scope from a level

barely perceptive to an experienced observer to an obvious

pathological deficiency.

Like color blindness, this anomaly also appears to represent

a deficit in stimulus transformation, albeit occurring not on the

sensory but on the instinctive level.52 Psychiatrist of the old

school used to call such individuals “Daltonists of human feel-

ings and socio-moral values”.

The psychological picture shows clear deficits among men

only; among women it is generally toned down, as by the effect

of a second normal allele. This suggests that the anomaly is

also inherited via the X chromosome, but through a semi-

dominating gene. However, the author was unable to confirm

this by excluding inheritance from father to son.

Analysis of the different experiential manner demonstrated

by these individuals caused us to conclude that their instinctive

substratum is also defective, containing certain gaps and lack-

ing the natural syntonic responses commonly evidenced by

50 Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902-1980):Polish psychologist, psychiatrist, phy-

sician, and poet. Dabrowski developed the theory of Positive Disintegration,

a novel approach to personality development, over his lifetime of clinical and

academic work. [Editor’s note.]

51 Recent research by Robert Hare, then Martha Stout, and finally Salekin,

Trobst, Krioukova, have tended to increase the probably rate of occurrence in

a given population. The latter researchers, in “Construct Validity of Psycho-

pathy in a Community Sample: A Nomological Net Approach”, Salekin,

Trobst, Krioukova, Journal of Personality Disorders, 15(5), 425-441, 2001),

suggest the prevalence of psychopathy to be perhaps 5% or more, although

the vast majority of those will be male (more than 1/10 males versus ap-

proximately 1/100 females). [Editor’s note.]

52 Current day research suggests that many of the characteristics displayed by

psychopaths are closely associated with a profound lack of ability to con-

struct an empathic mental and emotional “facsimile” of another person. They

seem completely unable to “get into the skin” of others, except in a purely

intellectual sense. [Editor’s note.]

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

127

members of the species Homo Sapiens.53 Our species instinct is

our first teacher; it stays with us everywhere throughout our

lives. Upon this defective instinctive substratum, the deficits of

higher feelings and the deformities and impoverishments in

psychological, moral, and social concepts develop in corre-

spondence with these gaps.

Our natural world of concepts – based upon species in-

stincts as described in an earlier chapter - strikes the psycho-

path as a nearly incomprehensible convention with no justifica-

tion in their own psychological experience. They think that