Violence and evil are the essential causes of the fatal pains which lurk not only in the micro-dimension, but also in the macro-dimension, that is, in the relationship between not only individuals, but also between each dimension of the nation, and fu ...
Violence and evil are the essential causes of the fatal pains which lurk not only in the micro-dimension, but also in the macro-dimension, that is, in the relationship between not only individuals, but also between each dimension of the nation, and further in the international relationships.
The violences that denude the humanities of their dignity and life thoroughly, such as the personal violence by the individuals, by the organizations, and by the state, the wars, genocide, labor exploitations, economical unequality, suppression of liberty and freedom are the ultimate figures of the evil which we should overcome in any case. Exercises of physical forces which takes other people’s life, dignity, properties are defined as violence, while the evil is the philosophical, metaphysical concepts of the concrete physical forces exercised on the other people.
Hitherto there have been a lot of studies on the evil and violence in the individual disciplines. But it is not easy to find the studies that develop fundamental and metaphysical perspectives deeply which are oriented towards the synthetical viewpoint about the problem of evil and violnce.
The wholistic study on the origin and significance of evil and violence require therefore politico-theological perspective which will synthesize the philosophical, political and metaphysical discussions based on the academical and practical results produced in the particular disciplines. For from the Antiquity to the present day the real politics must be essentially related to the theological problems. The implication of the political theology lies in the fact that it should be at all times reinterpreted and applied to the present political situations from the progressive point of view, although it was originally formed and developed to support the conservative and, even worse, suppressive regime or governors. Further, the philosophical significance of the political theology has the merit that it possesses the concepts that are lacking in the positivistic political philosophy and legal sciences, that is, those of the transcendence, upon whose base only we can think of the normative criteria to criticise evil and violence in the contemporary situations and to contribute to forming the good and justice in the communities, state and interpersonal relations, etc.
Ultimately this study is intended to construct the progressive political theology, and to achieve this purpose it will historically and critically review the results that have been existed hitherto in the disciplines concerned. The method of the study therefore will be synthetical, that is philosophical, metaphysical and psychoanalytical, including the viewpoint of the political economics.
This study starts discussing the judeo-christian traditions, together with Platon’s rational philosophy, which, even though regarded very easily as worn-out and mythical, should be reassessed and reinterpreted from the new perspective, that is in the demythologizing way. For together with, or by virtue of the platonic traditions, judeo-christian society could successfully defend itself against the challenges of the manichean reversal of the good and evil, especially through the initiative of St. Augustine. He has been always the cornerstone of the philosophers afterwards who wants to consider the ethical, political or moral problems in all kinds of ethical or political context.
It is convenient to consider philosophical problems, so to speak in chronological approach(first year: antique and medieval philosophy; second year: Modern Philosophy; third year: contempory philosophy and psychoanalysis). But I did not always cling to this approach, when the subjects concerned require a systematic considerations.
The world view which I put forward as one to be criticized by this study is gnosticism or manicheanism or manichean gnosticism. This tradition was connected to the Sadism, even though requiring a further discussions in order to be able to associated safely with the gnosticism without having the danger of simplification. I wish to provide the thesis that the both world views are common in believing in the foundational violence, as was the case in the antique primitive countries indifferently of the Oriental and Occidental. That means that the legal and ethical foundations of the community and state are nothing but the positivistic forces. The paradigmatic and extreme realization of this ‘Sadism’ can be found in the Holocaust of Nazi-regime. Through concrete investigations such as that and others, I would like to consider and draw attention to the problem, how deeply the reversal of good and evil was and is still rooted in our daily lives and our (pseudo-)theories, in order to be ultimately find the theoretical answers, by which we expect to be able to overcome the various evils and violences exercised deliberately or unconsciously, but in any case deliberately and unconsciously unnoticed in our contemporary societies and countries.