Evil, mindblindness, and trauma: Challenges to hope

Ascriptions of evil have become commonplace with the escalation of terrorism. The "war on terrorism" includes a war of words; we hear of "evil empires" and "evil ideologics." Like "terrorist," "evil" always refers to someone other than the speaker-always him, her, or them; never I or LIS (Kapitan, 2003). Our most condemning word, laden with supernatural overtones, now highly politicized in conjunction with terrorism, "evil" is as emotionally charged as any word could be. Moreover, ascriptions of evil can contribute to perpetuating evil to the extent that we demonize others with the word. We must think clearly about evil. Evil is evil by virtue of its inextricable link to trauma: the traumatizing effects of evils rivet our attention, instill fear, and compel our wrath; the prospect of trauma terrorizes us. And evil traumatizes doubly: not only does it do damage, but also its gratuitousness and incomprehensibility makes the damage especially difficult to bear. Thus evildoing is profoundly and pervasively traumatizing in threatening faith-faith in the goodness and meaningfulness of the world as well as religious faith. This presentation addresses psychological causes and consequences of evil. I start by clarifying the concepts of trauma and evil. Then I present my thesis that the concept of mindblindness illuminates evildoing and the trauma that stems from it. Next I explicate the concept of mindblindness by discussing its converse, mentalizing attentiveness to mental states in others and oneself. I propose that promoting mentalizing is one way to counter evildoing and thus one basis for hope. Underscoring how evil challenges hope. I conclude by reiterating the high stakes these problems now pose.