Andrew Lobaczewski - Political Ponerology - A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes

others. They tend to assume extreme positions, and are eager to

retaliate for minor offenses. Sometimes they are eccentric and

odd. Their poor sense of psychological situation and reality

leads them to superimpose erroneous, pejorative interpretations

upon other people’s intentions. They easily become involved in

activities which are ostensibly moral, but which actually inflict

48 Emil Kraepelin (1856- 1926): German psychiatrist who attempted to create

a synthesis of the hundreds of mental disorders, grouping diseases together

based on classification of common patterns of symptoms, rather than by

simple similarity of major symptoms in the manner of his predecessors. In

fact, it was precisely because of the demonstrated inadequacy of the older

methods that Kraepelin developed his new diagnostic system. Kraepelin also

demonstrated specific patterns in the genetics of these disorders and specific

and characteristic patterns in their course and outcome. Generally speaking,

there tend to be more schizophrenics among the relatives of schizophrenic

patients than in the general population, while manic-depression is more fre-

quent in the relatives of manic-depressives. Kraepelin should be credited with

being the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology and

psychiatric genetics, according to the eminent psychologist H. J. Eysenck in

his Encyclopedia of Psychology . Kraepelin postulated that psychiatric dis-

eases are principally caused by biological and genetic disorders. His psychiat-

ric theories dominated the field of psychiatry at the beginning of the twenti-

eth century. He vigorously opposed the approach of Freud who regarded and

treated psychiatric disorders as caused by psychological factors. (Wikipedia)

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damage upon themselves and others. Their impoverished psy-

chological worldview makes them typically pessimistic regard-

ing human nature. We frequently find expressions of their

characteristic attitudes in their statements and writings: “Hu-

man nature is so bad that order in human society can only be

maintained by a strong power created by highly qualified indi-

viduals in the name of some higher idea.” Let us call this typi-

cal expression the “schizoid declaration”.

Human nature does in fact tend to be naughty, especially

when the schizoids embitter other people’s lives. When they

become wrapped up in situations of serious stress, however, the

schizoid’s failings cause them to collapse easily. The capacity

for thought is thereupon characteristically stifled, and fre-

quently the schizoids fall into reactive psychotic states so simi-

lar in appearance to schizophrenia that they lead to misdiagno-

ses.

The common factor in the varieties of this anomaly is a dull

pallor of emotion and lack of feeling for the psychological

realities, an essential factor in basic intelligence. This can be

attributed to some incomplete quality of the instinctive substra-

tum, which works as though founded on shifting sand. Low

emotional pressure enables them to develop proper speculative

reasoning, which is useful in non-humanistic spheres of activ-

ity, but because of their one-sidedness, they tend to consider

themselves intellectually superior to “ordinary” people.

The quantitative frequency of this anomaly varies among

races and nations: low among Blacks, the highest among Jews.

Estimates of this frequency range from negligible up to 3 %. In

Poland it may be estimated as 0.7 % of population. My obser-

vations suggest this anomaly is autosomally hereditary.49

A schizoid’s ponerological activity should be evaluated in

two aspects. On the small scale, such people cause their fami-

lies trouble, easily turn into tools of intrigue in the hands of

clever and unscrupulous individuals, and generally do a poor

job of raising children. Their tendency to see human reality in

49 Autosomal : the disease is due to a DNA error in one of the 22 pairs that are

not sex chromosomes. Both boys and girls can then inherit this error. If the

error is in a sex chromosome, the inheritance is said to be sex-linked. [Edi-

tor’s note.]

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

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the doctrinaire and simplistic manner they consider “proper” –

i.e. “black or white” - transforms their frequently good inten-

tions into bad results. However, their ponerogenic role can

have macrosocial implications if their attitude toward human

reality and their tendency to invent great doctrines are put to

paper and duplicated in large editions.

In spite of their typical deficits, or even an openly schizoi-

dal declaration, their readers do not realize what the authors’

characters are really like. Ignorant of the true condition of the

author, such uninformed readers thed to interpret such works in

a manner corresponding to their own nature. The minds of

normal people tend toward corrective interpretation due to the

participation of their own richer, psychological world view.

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-

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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