Introduction to the human perversion

From anima to man

Introduction to human perversity

We would not know the word of justice, if there were no perversity. Heraclitus

The proposal of the philosopher of Ephesus may very well be to reverse. One could say: "there would be no perversity if we ignored the word of justice". Perversion is indeed one of the consequences of justice and its prohibitions.

Son of nature

Our physical and psychic structure originates from nature. Most of our genetic heritage comes from the world of natural primates.

This is also the case with our behaviors, our values ​​or our arrangements. Our family or social organization, our political or hierarchical system, have their origins in the animal world.

A distant origin

Even human specificities unknown in other primates result from this general evolution. This is the case for belief in god, moral conscience, the desire for equality. And this is also the case with cruelty.

Spirituality

Human spirituality was born in the nest of a consciousness already existing in a summary state in animals. The interrogation of higher mammals (great apes, elephants, whales) before death is one example.

Morality

We also find in nature, embryos of our morals. The inhibition of aggressiveness (when a rival acts of submission) is one of them. This is also the case for the capacity for empathy, friendship, reconciliation, forgiveness ...

The roots of perversion

The basics of cruelty are also found in nature. Punitive expeditions exist among the other primates. They are, in a way, the outline of our wars. Our cousin monkeys also know vendetta, revenge. All negative human behaviors (war, torture or perversion) emerge from nature.

The sophistication of its negative behaviors in the human species has an explanation. It is the result of an explosive mixture. The expansion of our intelligence and the development of our taboos. These two mechanisms combined generate perversion.

In other words: the art of asserting oneself at the expense of one's fellows while remaining within the law.

From sadism to perversion

From cruelty to perversion.

As a result of this primitive hostility of men towards others, the cultural society is constantly threatened with disintegration. Sigmund Freud the discomfort in culture

Of all our negative behaviors, cruelty, perversion, sadism, a taste for torture, etc., is the most difficult to relate to the animal world.

These paradoxical human behaviors seem nonexistent in animals. They however draw their origins from their world. Before studying these terrible human attitudes, it is necessary to clarify certain things about them.

Paradoxical behavior.

Indifference is the greatest risk of our time, the civilized form of cruelty. Zenta Maurina

Barbarism, sadism and torture are in constant decline in humanity. Moral and secular laws have been created to oppose it. For several millennia, man has been educated through these laws. Today, when barbarism is revealed by the media, it revolts most men.

and the systematic highlighting of barbarism by the media is the only way to reduce it. In other words, media silence in the face of the return of legalized torture in contemporary democracies is a real crime against humanity.

A marginal phenomenon

Cruelty poses a problem of conscience and involves the whole human race. But apart from the wars, these acts became extremely marginal compared to the number of actions carried out by humanity.

Only a tiny minority of human beings can knowingly make their fellow humans suffer and revel in it. Rare individuals (often because of their childhood) derive pleasure from the suffering they cause. This is why large-scale barbarism is initiated by only a few men;

it was the case of the tortures exerted by the Nazism and the dictatorships, But it is also the case of the tortures supported by the democracies (Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, etc.). The same can be said of the torture inflicted in state prisons, including in the West. Read Avery F Gordon's article on the diplomatic world. Many of Abu Ghraib's torturers convicted of torture were, incidentally, former state prison guards and already convicted of similar crimes (the infamous Ivan L Frederick, or Charles A Graner for example).

In this chapter, we will try to advance some explanations for this type of behavior.

2001

définition

Celui qui a plongé son regard dans l'oeil vitreux d'un soldat mourant sur un champ de bataille réfléchira à deux fois avant d'entreprendre une guerre. Bismarck

Sigmund Freud, par Andy Warhol