I wonder if Ponerology as a science studying psychological pathology would see modernity as essentially a psychopathic situation generating psychosis. I wonder this, because in reading Augusto Del Noce, the new totalitarianism proceeds by negating every form of transcendence, especially the religious truth and universal reason which Del Noce calls “Platonism.” It reconceives reality as “a system of forces, not of values.” Being and nature are dissolved into the flux of history. And truth is reduced to social and psychological “situations” to be administered by social scientists.
This totalitarianism is total because it does away with the idea of truth and universal reason, reducing the one to pragmatic function and the other to empirical analysis. This scientism ushers in what Del Noce, following Michele Federico Sciacca, calls “the reign of stupidity.” Argument becomes impossible because truth claims are attacked as expressions of class interest, bigotry, or psychosis. Ultimate questions can no longer be posed in a public way, much less answered. “Only what is subject to empirical observation and can be empirically represented . . . ‘is,’” and so thinking itself is reduced to the refinement of technique and the multiplication of means. After the negation of transcendence, politics itself becomes the transcendental horizon, and ethics, like truth, is subsumed under the form of war. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/06/what-del-noce-saw
This was an excellent, thought-provoking response to my earlier comment. Thank you for taking the time to compose it. This brings essential nuance to the discussion.
I especially appreciated your emphasis that a pathocratic system can arise in any political system, and vice versa; thus a benign authoritarian system such as a monarchy can be far superior to a malign 'democratic' system such as we have today. That's a very important point and one I think few would have appreciated before the events of the last couple decades revealed the Western order for the beast system it has become.
The risk of being killed by one's own immune response is not to be treated lightly. "Take care that in fighting monsters, you do not become one ... and when you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss also stares back."
Given that there is some evidence for psychopathology to have direct correlates in neural architecture and activity patterns, I've often wondered if a very simple intervention could all but eliminate psychopaths from the top leadership of society: just require that any would-be candidates for political office, corporate leadership, etc., submit to an MRI. That might not catch them all, but it would probably catch a lot of them.
Thanks Harrison for the deeper dive - really appreciating your insight on ponerology and thank you for the new version of the book! I really struggled with the former version, and although I've only dipped into your new publication I can already see how much easier it is to read (and loving the detailed notes and your intro is also very helpful) - thanks again!
I wonder if Ponerology as a science studying psychological pathology would see modernity as essentially a psychopathic situation generating psychosis. I wonder this, because in reading Augusto Del Noce, the new totalitarianism proceeds by negating every form of transcendence, especially the religious truth and universal reason which Del Noce calls “Platonism.” It reconceives reality as “a system of forces, not of values.” Being and nature are dissolved into the flux of history. And truth is reduced to social and psychological “situations” to be administered by social scientists.
This totalitarianism is total because it does away with the idea of truth and universal reason, reducing the one to pragmatic function and the other to empirical analysis. This scientism ushers in what Del Noce, following Michele Federico Sciacca, calls “the reign of stupidity.” Argument becomes impossible because truth claims are attacked as expressions of class interest, bigotry, or psychosis. Ultimate questions can no longer be posed in a public way, much less answered. “Only what is subject to empirical observation and can be empirically represented . . . ‘is,’” and so thinking itself is reduced to the refinement of technique and the multiplication of means. After the negation of transcendence, politics itself becomes the transcendental horizon, and ethics, like truth, is subsumed under the form of war. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/06/what-del-noce-saw
This was an excellent, thought-provoking response to my earlier comment. Thank you for taking the time to compose it. This brings essential nuance to the discussion.
I especially appreciated your emphasis that a pathocratic system can arise in any political system, and vice versa; thus a benign authoritarian system such as a monarchy can be far superior to a malign 'democratic' system such as we have today. That's a very important point and one I think few would have appreciated before the events of the last couple decades revealed the Western order for the beast system it has become.
The risk of being killed by one's own immune response is not to be treated lightly. "Take care that in fighting monsters, you do not become one ... and when you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss also stares back."
Given that there is some evidence for psychopathology to have direct correlates in neural architecture and activity patterns, I've often wondered if a very simple intervention could all but eliminate psychopaths from the top leadership of society: just require that any would-be candidates for political office, corporate leadership, etc., submit to an MRI. That might not catch them all, but it would probably catch a lot of them.
Thanks Harrison for the deeper dive - really appreciating your insight on ponerology and thank you for the new version of the book! I really struggled with the former version, and although I've only dipped into your new publication I can already see how much easier it is to read (and loving the detailed notes and your intro is also very helpful) - thanks again!