Can this be evil? Evilness seen as intention or drive

ABSTRACT

This article was originally read as an introductory plenary paper at the German-Nordic Clinical Conference, September 2015 in Berlin. The heading of the conference was ‘On Cruelty and Destructiveness’. The paper takes as its starting point the composite figure of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It discusses the meaning of intentionality, or the lack of a conscious intention of being evil, in comparison to evil deeds caused by uninhibited drive satisfaction. Evilness is put into a social and a psycho-developmental context. Examples of contemporary atrocities are discussed, leading up to a formulation of a multi-factorial explanatory model of evil, taken from Michael Stones book ‘The Anatomy of Evil’.

KEYWORDS:

• Evilness
• intentionality
• drives
• schizo-paranoid position
• autistic–contiguous position

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gunnar Berggren

Gunnar Berggren is Licensed Psychologist and Psychotherapist. He is Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University. He also works as psychoanalyst and psychotherapist in private practice. Since 2012, he has been the President of the Swedish Psychoanalytical Association