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

cannot be a substitute for objective premises.

Similarly, it is extremely difficult for a psychologist to be-

lieve in the value of any social ideology based on simplified or

even naive psychological premises. This applies to any ideol-

ogy which attempts to over-simplify psychological reality,

whether it be one utilized by a totalitarian system or, unfortu-

nately, by democracy as well. People are different. Whatever is

qualitatively different and remains in a state of permanent evo-

lution cannot be equal.

~~~

The above-mentioned statements about human nature apply

to normal people, with a few exceptions. However, each soci-

ety on earth contains a certain percentage of individuals, a rela-

tively small but active minority, who cannot be considered

normal.

We emphasize that here we are dealing with qualitative, not

statistical, abnormality. Outstandingly intelligent persons are

statistically abnormal, but they can be quite normal members of

society from the qualitative point of view. We are going to be

looking at individuals that are statistically small in number, but

whose quality of difference is such that it can affect hundreds,

thousands, even millions of other human beings in negative

ways.

The individuals we wish to consider are people who reveal

morbid19 phenomena, and in whom mental deviations and

anomalies of various qualities and intensities can be observed.

Many such people are driven by internal anxieties: they search

for unconventional paths of action and adjustment to life with a

19 Diseased; caused by or altered by or manifesting disease or pathology.

[Editor’s note.]

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

69

certain characteristic hyperactivity. In some cases, such activity

can be pioneering and creative, which ensures societal toler-

ance for some of these individuals. Some psychiatrists, espe-

cially Germans, have praised such people as embodying the

principal inspiration for the development of civilization; this is

a damagingly unilateral view of reality. Laymen in the field of

psychopathology frequently gain the impression that such per-

sons represent some extraordinary talents. This very science,

however, then goes on to explain that these individuals’ hyper-

activity and sense of being exceptional are derived from their

drive to overcompensate for a feeling of some deficiency. This

aberrant attitude results in the obscuration of the truth: that

normal people are the richest of all.

The fourth chapter of the book contains a concise descrip-

tion of some of these anomalies, their causes, and the biologi-

cal reality, selected in such a way as to facilitate comprehen-

sion of this work as a whole. Other data are distributed

throughout many specialized works that will not be included

here. However, we must consider the overall shape of our

knowledge in this area, which is so basic to our understanding

of, and practical solutions to, many difficult problems of social

life, is unsatisfactory. Many scientists treat this area of science

as being peripheral; others consider it “thankless” because it

easily leads to misunderstandings with other specialists. As a

consequence, various concepts and various semantic conven-

tions emerge, and the totality of knowledge in this science is

still characterized by an excessively descriptive nature. This

book therefore encompasses efforts whose purpose was to

bring to light the causative aspects of the descriptively known

phenomena.

The pathological phenomena in question, usually of a suffi-

ciently low intensity which can be more easily concealed from

environmental opinion, merge without much difficulty into the

eternal process of the genesis of evil, which later affects peo-

ple, families, and entire societies. Later in this book, we shall

learn that these pathological factors become indispensable

components in a synthesis which results in widescale human

suffering, and also that tracking their activities by means of

70

SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS

scientific control and social consciousness may prove to be an

effective weapon against evil.

For the above reasons, this scope of psychopathological sci-

ence represents an indispensable part of that objective language

we have dealt with before. Ever-increasing accuracy in biologi-

cal and psychological facts in this area is an essential precondi-

tion for an objective comprehension of many phenomena

which become extremely onerous for societies, as well as for a

modern solution to age-old problems. Biologists, physicians,

and psychologists who have been struggling with these elusive

and convoluted problems deserve assistance and encourage-

ment from society, since their work will enable the future pro-

tection of people and nations from an evil whose causes we do

not as yet sufficiently understand.

Society