“You Will Be Like God”: Fascination of Force and Social Conformism in Two War Episodes

Publication Type

Journal Article

Year of Publication

2010

Author

Rossi Monti, Martino

Journal

Journal of Humanistic Psychology

Volume

50

Number

1

Pages

6-37

Language

English

Publish Dates

January 2010

Keywords

force
evil
Iliad
violence

Annotation

Monti argues, " environmental and social contexts can produce wickedness precisely because wickedness is a fundamental component (luckily not the only one) of the human being" (p. 11). He goes on to give examples of such wickedness and the context in which it arose. He begins with Weil's experiences in the Spanish Civil War and the conclusions she came to in regard to them. He then moves on to a discussion of Weil's work: “The Iliad or Poem of Force.” The paper continues with Monti giving other examples of force before turning to discuss the 'social nature of evil'.