I am a research psychologist and a university professor, and so my main task in this book is to understand the causal processes that produce evil actions. This discrepancy compounded my own personal struggle to write this book. Perpetrators favor a detached, minimalist style, and to understand their mental processes it is essential to lean toward that style, too. But the very enormity of the crime is itself a victim's appraisal, not a perpetrator's. Indeed, many works on evil use a vivid, passionate prose style to drive home the enormity of the crimes. If this book tries to do its job of understanding the perpetrators, it will inevitably seem insensitive to the sufferings of the victim, at least at times. 'To understand perpetrators, it will be necessary to grasp what these crimes and other acts mean to them – which often entails seeing the acts as relatively minor, meaningless, or trivial. Since this could be considered a controversial approach, perhaps it is best to let the author speak for himself on this point: To us the magnitude of these acts is great, to the evil doer they are – as Hannah Arendt would have it – banal. Lewis sought to understand how demons work in the lives of human beings by writing a fictional account told from the perspective of a demon, this book seeks to understand human evil by looking at it from the perspective of the perpetrators of evil. I myself came to think of it as 'the Screwtape method.' Just as C.S. Not being a psychologist, I am willing to be corrected on this, but what the author seems to be talking about is cognitive (though definitely not affective) empathy. The author argues that if we want to understand human evil, we have to lay aside our natural responses and look at these situations not from the perspective of the victims but instead from the perspective of the perpetrators. While these are perfectly understandable reactions, this book contends they cloud the issue when it comes to understanding human evil. Consider our normal every day responses to evil and injustice on the evening news: shock and moral outrage. The author argues that if we want to understand human evil, we have to lay aside our natural responses and look at these situations not from the perspective of the victims but instea A book that takes a unique perspective in its attempts to understand evil. A fascinating study of one of humankind's oldest problems, Evil has profound implications for the way we conduct our lives and govern our society.moreĪ book that takes a unique perspective in its attempts to understand evil. Why is there evil, and what can scientific research tell us about the origins and persistence of evil behavior? Considering evil from the unusual perspective of the perpetrator, Baumeister asks, How do ordinary people find themselves beating their wives? Murdering rival gang members? Torturing political prisoners? Betraying their colleagues to the secret police? Why do cyc Why is there evil, and what can scientific research tell us about the origins and persistence of evil behavior? Considering evil from the unusual perspective of the perpetrator, Baumeister asks, How do ordinary people find themselves beating their wives? Murdering rival gang members? Torturing political prisoners? Betraying their colleagues to the secret police? Why do cycles of revenge so often escalate?īaumeister casts new light on these issues as he examines the gap between the victim's viewpoint and that of the perpetrator, and also the roots of evil behavior, from egotism and revenge to idealism and sadism.
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