Andrew Lobaczewski - Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes
evil was called, correspondingly, “ponerogenesis”. I hope that
these modest beginnings will grow so as to enable us to over-
come evil through an understanding of its nature, causes, and
development.
~~~
From among 5000 psychotic, neurotic, and healthy patients,
the author selected 384 adults who behaved in a manner which
had seriously hurt others. They came from all circles of Polish
society, but mostly from a large industrial center characterized
by poor working conditions and substantial air pollution. They
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
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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.
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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
productive method in this area.
The role of pathological factors in a process of the origin of
evil can be played by any known, or not yet sufficiently re-
searched, psychopathological phenomenon, and also by some
pathological matters medical practice does not include within
psychopathology. However, their activity in a ponerogenic
process is dependent on features other than the obviousness or
intensity of the condition. Quite the contrary, the greatest pon-
erogenic activity is reached by pathological factors at an inten-
sity which generally permits detection with the help of clinical
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methods, although they are not yet considered pathological by
the opinion of the social environment. Such a factor can then
covertly limit the bearer’s ability to control his conduct, or
have an effect upon other persons, traumatizing their psyches,
fascinating them, causing their personalities to develop im-
properly, or inciting vindictive emotions or a lust for punishing.
A moralistic interpretation of such agents and their legacy
works against humankind’s ability to see the causes of evil and
to utilize common sense to combat it. This is why identifying
such pathological factors and revealing their activities can so
often stifle their ponerogenic functions.
In the process of the origin of evil, pathological factors can
act from within an individual who has committed a hurtful act;
such activity is relatively easily acknowledged by public opin-
ion and the courts. Consideration is given much less frequently
to how outside influences emitted by their carriers act upon
individuals or groups. Such influences, however, play a sub-
stantial role in the overall genesis of evil. In order for such
influence to be active, the pathological characteristic in ques-
tion must be interpreted in a moralistic manner, i.e. differently
from its true nature. There are many possibilities for such ac-
tivities. For the moment, let us indicate the most damaging.
Every person in the span of his life, and particularly during
childhood and youth, assimilates psychological material from
others through mental resonance, identification, imitation, and
other communicative means, thereupon transforming it to build
his own personality and world view. If such material is con-
taminated by pathological factors and deformities, personality
development shall also be deformed. The product will be a
person unable to understand correctly either himself and others,
normal human relations and morals; he develops into a person
who commits evil acts with a poor feeling of being faulty. Is he
really at fault?
Man’s age-old, familiar moral weaknesses and intelligence
deficiencies, proper reasoning, and knowledge combine with
the activity of various pathological factors to create a complex
network of causation which frequently contains feedback rela-
tionships or closed causal structures. Practically speaking,
cause and effect are often widely separated in time, which
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103
makes it more difficult to track the links. If our scope of obser-
vation is expansive enough, the ponerogenic processes are
reminiscent of complex chemical synthesis, wherein modifying
a single factor causes the entire process to change. Botanists
are aware of the law of the minimum, wherein plant growth is
limited by contents of the component which is in deficiency in
the soil. Similarly, eliminating (or at least limiting) the activity
of one of the above-mentioned factors or deficiencies should
cause a corresponding reduction in the entire process of the
genesis of evil.
For centuries, moralists have been advising us to develop
ethics and human values; they have been searching for the
proper intellectual criteria. They have also respected correct-
ness of reasoning, whose value in this area is unquestionable.
In spite of all their efforts, however, they have been unable to
overcome the many kinds of evil that have scourged humanity
for ages and that are presently taking on unheard-of propor-
tions.
By no means does a ponerologist wish to belittle the role of
moral values and knowledge in this area; rather, he wants to
buttress it with hitherto-underrated scientific knowledge in
order to round out the picture as a whole and adapt it better to
reality, thereby making more effective action possible in moral,
psychological, social, and political practice.
This new discipline is thus primarily interested in the role of
pathological factors in the origin of evil, especially since con-
scious control and monitoring of them on the scientific, social,
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-
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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.
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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
