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

edge as to what is human and decent, then find an open gate to

bulldoze their different way of life through unobliging socie-

ties.

Will we ever be able to overcome this age-old problem of

humanity sometime in the yet undetermined future, with the

assistance of the biological and psychological sciences making

progress in the study of various pathological factors participat-

ing in ponerogenic processes? That will depend on the support

of the societies in question. Scientific and societal awareness of

the role played by the above-mentioned factors in the genesis

of evil will help public opinion to elaborate an appropriate

position against evil, which will then cease to be so fascinat-

ingly mysterious. If properly modified based on an understand-

ing of the nature of phenomena, the law will permit prophylac-

tic countermeasures to the origin of evil.

Over the centuries, every society has been subjected to natu-

ral eugenic processes which cause defective individuals, in-

cluding those with above-mentioned features, to drop out of

reproductive competition or reduce their birth rate. These proc-

esses are rarely seen as such, often being screened by the ac-

companying evil or some other conditions apparently relegat-

ing them to the background. Conscious comprehension of these

matters based on proper knowledge and approximate moral

criteria could render these processes less stormy in form, not so

full of bitter experience. If human consciousness and con-

science are properly formed and good advice in these matters is

heeded, the balance of these processes could be tipped mark-

edly in the positive direction. After a number of generations,

society’s burden of inherited pathological factors would be

144

PONEROLOGY

reduced below a certain critical level, and their participation in

ponerogenic processes would begin to fade away. 69

Ponerogenic Phenomena and Processes

Following the real space-time network of qualitatively

complex causative links as occur in ponerogenic processes

requires the proper approach and experience. The fact that psy-

chologists daily face multiple cases of dealing with such devi-

ants or their victims means that they are becoming progres-

sively more skilled in understanding and describing the many

components of psychological causation. They are observing

feedback on closed causative structures. However, this skill

sometimes proves insufficient in overcoming our human ten-

dency to concentrate upon some facts while ignoring others,

provoking an unpleasant sensation that our mind’s capacity of

understanding the reality surrounding us is inefficient. This

explains the temptation to use the natural world view in order

to simplify complexity and its implications, a phenomenon as

common as the “old sage” known to India’s philosophical psy-

chology. Such oversimplification of the causative picture as

regards the genesis of evil, often to a single easily understood

cause or one perpetrator, itself becomes, itself, a cause in this

genesis.

With great respect for the shortcomings of our human rea-

son, let us consciously take the middle road and use the ab-

straction process, first describing selected phenomena, then the

causative chains characteristic for ponerogenic processes. Such

chains can then be linked into more complex structures ever

more sufficient for grasping the full picture of the real causa-

tive network. At first the holes in the net will be so large that a

school of sprats can swim through undetected, although large

fish will be caught. However, this world’s evil represents a

kind of continuum, where minor species of human evil effec-

tively add up to the genesis of large evil. Making this net

denser and filling in the details of the picture appear to be eas-

69 !obaczewski seems to be referring to war and other physical conflicts and

suggesting that, if normal people would refuse to get involved and allow only

the deviants to fight, they would eventually kill each other off. [Editor’s

note.]

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

145

ier, since ponerogenic laws are analogous regardless of the

scale of occurrences. Our common sense thus commits minor

errors at the level of minor matters.

In attempting closer observation of these psychological

processes and phenomena which lead one man or one nation to

hurt another, let us select phenomena as characteristic as possi-

ble. We shall see that the participation of various pathological

factors in these processes is the rule; the situation where such

participation is not noticeable tends to be the exception.

~~~

The second chapter sketched the human instinctive substra-

tum’s role in our personality development, the formation of the

natural world view, and societal links and structures. We also