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STEVEN JAMES BARTLETT |
The Pathology of Man A Study of Human Evil
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Steven James Bartlett
WHAT REVIEWERS HAD TO SAY:
“The subject matter of this treatise is far-reaching and profound, exploring the scope and depths of the human capacity for destructiveness and evil.... Psychologists and psychotherapists will find this a challenging and thought-provoking approach that makes a significant contribution to an aspect of human psychopathology that is rarely or so comprehensively addressed.”
– W. W. Meissner, Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic
“Bartlett is a lucid, painstaking and illuminating writer. This is certainly a classic work of reference in the field.”
– Marcus West, The Journal of Analytical Psychology
From the book’s back cover:
The Pathology of Man is a pioneering work...
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WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID About This Work
“[T]he study of evil is just beginning and you are a pioneer.” – M. Scott Peck, author of People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil and The Road Less Traveled
“Steven James Bartlett’s The Pathology of Man marks the most comprehensive examination of human evil to date. Drawing from different fields of study, including psychology and epistemology, Bartlett sets out on a Tour de Force of delineating the parameters on human evil.... The resulting text is a most welcomed addition to the field and provides for fascinating reading. The Pathology of Man is a timely, scholarly, and important piece of work that should appeal to anyone who is interested in understanding human evil.” – Eric A. Zillmer, Carl R. Pacifico Professor of Neuropsychology, Drexel University, and author of The Quest for the Nazi Personality: A Psychological Investigation of Nazi War Criminals
“This book is stunning, upsetting, gripping.... Bartlett sets out a theory of human evil as a ubiquitous disease and humankind as the pathogen/parasite which is rapidly spreading and, in the process, killing its hosts (be they other humans, other species of life, and nature itself).... [T]he conclusions are unrelenting and devastating.... [T]he book is a moral act of the highest order.” – Irving Greenberg, President, Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation; Chairman, United States Holocaust Memorial Council 2000-2002
“Steven James Bartlett observes how certain chronic diseases can be so prevalent as to be normal for a species. In The Pathology of Man, Bartlett follows this insight to make a provocative argument, that evil is such a normal pathology among human beings.... The Pathology of Man adds to the growing realization that the roots of human evil lie not in madness but within the core of sanity.” – Douglas Porpora, Professor of Sociology, Drexel University, and author of How Holocausts Happen
“[H]uman evil...is more the rule than the exception, more ‘normal’ than not.... [T]he pervasive pathology of human evil...must be better comprehended if we are to prevent it from metastasizing.... Toward this urgent task, nothing could be more important today than serious...psychological studies of human evil such as you have undertaken.” – Stephen A. Diamond, author of Anger, Madness, and the Demonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity
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Table of contents
Acknowledgments Introduction
Part I: Pathology and Man
Chapter 1: Pathology and Theories of Disease Disease that Is Not Metaphor The Nature of Pathology A Short History of Pathology Infectiousness, Contagion, and Antibiosis Types of Organic Disease Reflections on Theories of Disease
Chapter 2: Pathology, Politics, and Clinical Judgment The Politics of Disease Anti-Semitism and Racism as Diseases Social Consequences of Disease Labeling The Role of Clinical Judgment
Chapter 3: Framework-Relative Pathology The Framework-relative Theory of Disease General Varieties of Pathology The Concept of Mental Illness Social Pathology Conceptual Pathology
Chapter 4: Epidemiology, Universal Pathology, and Therapy Basic Concepts of Epidemiology The Concept of Universal Disease Man as Pathogen Relationships between Therapy and Pathology
Chapter 5: Pathology and the Concept of Evil Historical Precedents About the Use of the Word ‘Evil’ in this Work Diagnosis and Pathology The Pathology of Man: Synopsis of Part I
Part II: The Psychology of Human Evil
Chapter 6: Freud and the Pathology of Aggression The Dynamics of Human Destructiveness Psychological Projection The Gratifications of War and its Inevitability The Pathology of Civilization Closed Systems of Belief The Therapeutic Treatment of Human Aggression Freud and Human Evil No Consolations
Chapter 7: Jung’s Understanding of Human Evil Jung’s Starting Point Jung’s Account of Human Evil Jung’s Indictment of Humanity Sidestepping Relativism
Chapter 8: Recent Psychiatry and Human Evil: Menninger, Fromm, and Peck Karl A. Menninger Erich Fromm Morgan Scott Peck Recent Psychiatry and Human Evil
Chapter 9: The Quantitative History of Human Self-Destructiveness Quincy Wright, Pitirim Aleksandrovich Sorokin, and Nicholas Rashevsky Meteorology and Deadly Human Conflicts: Lewis Fry Richardson Richardson’s Analysis of Deadly Quarrels Richardson’s Mathematical Psychology of War Richardson’s Epidemic Theory of War, War-moods, and War-weariness In Conclusion
Chapter 10: The Pathology of a Species: Ethology and Human Evil Konrad Lorenz and Ethology Epistemology and Gestalt Perception The Hierarchy of Human Capabilities Pathology as a Source of Knowledge Human Aggression Lorenz’s Critics Mankind’s Future Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt
Chapter 11: Toward a Unified Psychology of Genocide Introduction Conditions that Contribute to Genocide Summary: The Continuum of Predisposing Conditions
Chapter 12: The Holocaust and Human Evil The Pathology of Jew-hatred: The Human Need for Prejudice and Persecution Broadening the Culpability of the Holocaust: Some Call it Madness, but it is Normal The Psychology of the Nazi Leaders Healers in the Service of Mass Murder: The Nazi Doctors Those Who Stand by and Do Nothing: Allowing the Events to Happen The Psychology of those Who Refuse to Participate in Mass Murder Those Who Actively Resist What Genocide Has Taught Us Proposed Solutions Moral Relativism and the Holocaust: Is One Man’s Genocide another’s Ethnic Cleansing?
Chapter 13: The Psychology of Terrorism and Human Evil Introduction The Psychology of Terrorism Definitions, the Pervasiveness of Terrorism, and its Characteristics The Framework- and Audience-relativity of Terrorism Psychological Hypotheses to Explain Terrorism The Mirage of the Terrorist Personality: The Psychological Normality of Terrorists Ideas that Justify Mass Murder The Three Psychological Projections of Terrorism: The Enemy, the Ideal Future, and the Afterlife Human Evil and Terrorism What Psychology Can Contribute to Counterterrorism The Inevitability of Terrorism
Chapter 14: The Popularity of War and its Role in Human Evil Beautiful Beliefs and Ugly Facts The Gratifications of War: Extreme Sport and Sadism War Gives Meaning to Life (and Death) People Want War Human Moral Development and War War: The Lessons Never Learned How Easy it is to Turn the Ordinary Person into a Killer The Pathology of War The Inevitability of War War and Human Evil
Chapter 15: “We Are Sheep...” — Obedience and Human Evil Milgram’s Experiments: Obediently Harming Others The Meaning of Milgram’s Work The Psychological Benefits of Obedience Disobedience Conclusion: The Pathology of Obedience
Chapter 16: The Phenomenology of Hatred Background The Phenomenology of Hatred: The Hater and his World A Definition of Hatred The Partitioned Reality of Hatred Shand’s Law: Neutralizing Moral Awareness The Emotional Dynamics of Human Hatred People Love to Hate: The Pleasure in Hating The Existential Rewards of Human Hatred The Human Need to Hate The Incapacitating Nature of Hatred The Pathology of Human Hatred
Chapter 17: The Ecological Pathology of Man The Nature of Parasitism Parasitology as a Branch of Ecology The World as General Systems Host Homo parasiticus The Population Biology of Human Parasitism The Exterminator Species’ Biodiversity Holocaust Man, the Global Pathogen In Summary
Chapter 18: Moral Intelligence and the Pathology of Human Stupidity The Incidence of High Moral Development The Moral Bridge Problem: The Gap between Moral Reasoning and Moral Behavior Moral Intelligence The Psychology of Human Stupidity A Brief History of the Psychology of Human Stupidity The Pathology of Human Stupidity
Part III: The Conceptual Pathology of Man
Chapter 19: The Pathology of Everyday Thought Ideopathy, or Disorders of Thought Collingwood’s Hypothesis Delusional Misidentifications Philosophy as Therapy Conceptual Pathology and Human Evil Epistemological Projection The Delusion of Transcendence and Human Evil
Chapter 20: Relativism, Framewor-Relativity, and Human Evil Relativism as a Thought Disorder The Human Evil of Relativism Morality beyond Moral Relativism Preaching to the already Converted
Chapter 21: Reflections Looking Back This Study’s Conclusions Blinders and Recalcitrance The Pathology of Hope The Pathology of Forgiveness The Purpose of this Book Resistance to this Study’s Conclusions
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TO ORDER click here to go to the publisher’s web page for this book, or
Brian Martin. Tactics against scheming diseases. Journal of Sociotechnical Critique, vol. 1, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-20. How disease can be thought of as an active agent, with case studies of AIDS, smoking and human evil. Brian Martin. Technology and evil. Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, vol. 8, no. 2, 2019, pp. 1-14. Bartlett’s analysis of human evil and how it applies to technology. Also available here. Brian Martin. What if most people love violence? Waging Nonviolence, 3 May 2019. Bartlett’s ideas about human evil show the immensity of the challenge for nonviolent campaigners. Brian Martin. Whistleblowers versus evil. The Whistle (newsletter of Whistleblowers Australia), No. 96, October 2018, pp. 4-5.
Dr. Brian Martin is emeritus professor of social sciences at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He is the author of 18 books and hundreds of articles on nonviolence, whistleblowing, scientific controversies, information issues, democracy and other topics. He is vice president of Whistleblowers Australia and runs a large website on suppression of dissent.
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