SaintLouieWoman
08-23-2009, 02:22 PM
This book review was written by a former neighbor, a man who is on the board of the St Louis Zoo. He's a very interesting man, an investment broker by trade, who has a home that looks like a contemporary art museum. He and his wife are very literate, interesting people.
I'd recommend reading his evaluation of two books examining the nature of evil, with both authors having a medical background.
A long ago friend, a psychiatrist who worked with disturbed children, claimed that some children should just have little electric-chair/rocking horses, because they were evil and disturbed from birth. I hated to think that could be true, but after reading the comments on tthe two books, it just might be the case, something wired into them, scary thought.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/reviews.nsf/book/story/02F75B4A6F7DEB508625761A0003DE3C?OpenDocument
'Cruelty,' 'The Anatomy of Evil
by joseph losos
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
08/23/2009
"Not only had we become criminals, we had become a ferocious species in a barbarous world."
Kathleen Taylor so quotes a repentant perpetrator in the Rwandan genocide, and this sums up the issue that two new books discuss: How is it that Homo sapiens, our self-designated wise species, can be so cruel, so inclined to evil?
This question has worried humans for millennia. Is evil, a trait we now observe in other primates, intrinsic? Or is it the result of ill fortune? Most pressing, can it be avoided or even stamped out?
Authors Taylor and Michael H. Stone are medically trained scholars, so they consider this from a partly scientific viewpoint.
In "The Anatomy of Evil," Stone emphasizes dangerous neurotransmitters, while in "Cruelty," Taylor traces bad neural signals. Both closely examine recent brain science, but neither is willing to restrict the analysis only to biology. They agree that whatever the physical causes, the crucial problem is the creation of states of mind that lead to antisocial behavior.
These are chronicles of bestial actions, derived from thoughts of utter depravity, which can be traced throughout human history. Optimists think that mankind moved away from ancient wickedness, but Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Hutu murderers are contemporary actors. Technological progress simply makes it easier to be horrible in more far-reaching ways.
As the titles indicate, Taylor targets cruelty as the core element of badness, while Stone tackles the bigger monster. His work is based on newspaper and magazine accounts of crime, described with unremitting harshness. Taylor is more philosophical.
These are not books to be read lightly, as they probe the very worst aspects of our nature. For example, Taylor has one chapter on callousness, such as the capacity of German soldiers to take part in mass murders without any feelings of remorse or outward concern, and another on sadism, featuring other soldiers who not only lacked remorse, but were delighted with their work.
snip
I'd recommend reading his evaluation of two books examining the nature of evil, with both authors having a medical background.
A long ago friend, a psychiatrist who worked with disturbed children, claimed that some children should just have little electric-chair/rocking horses, because they were evil and disturbed from birth. I hated to think that could be true, but after reading the comments on tthe two books, it just might be the case, something wired into them, scary thought.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/reviews.nsf/book/story/02F75B4A6F7DEB508625761A0003DE3C?OpenDocument
'Cruelty,' 'The Anatomy of Evil
by joseph losos
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
08/23/2009
"Not only had we become criminals, we had become a ferocious species in a barbarous world."
Kathleen Taylor so quotes a repentant perpetrator in the Rwandan genocide, and this sums up the issue that two new books discuss: How is it that Homo sapiens, our self-designated wise species, can be so cruel, so inclined to evil?
This question has worried humans for millennia. Is evil, a trait we now observe in other primates, intrinsic? Or is it the result of ill fortune? Most pressing, can it be avoided or even stamped out?
Authors Taylor and Michael H. Stone are medically trained scholars, so they consider this from a partly scientific viewpoint.
In "The Anatomy of Evil," Stone emphasizes dangerous neurotransmitters, while in "Cruelty," Taylor traces bad neural signals. Both closely examine recent brain science, but neither is willing to restrict the analysis only to biology. They agree that whatever the physical causes, the crucial problem is the creation of states of mind that lead to antisocial behavior.
These are chronicles of bestial actions, derived from thoughts of utter depravity, which can be traced throughout human history. Optimists think that mankind moved away from ancient wickedness, but Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Hutu murderers are contemporary actors. Technological progress simply makes it easier to be horrible in more far-reaching ways.
As the titles indicate, Taylor targets cruelty as the core element of badness, while Stone tackles the bigger monster. His work is based on newspaper and magazine accounts of crime, described with unremitting harshness. Taylor is more philosophical.
These are not books to be read lightly, as they probe the very worst aspects of our nature. For example, Taylor has one chapter on callousness, such as the capacity of German soldiers to take part in mass murders without any feelings of remorse or outward concern, and another on sadism, featuring other soldiers who not only lacked remorse, but were delighted with their work.
snip