Silencing Conscience

What does it take, morally and psychologically, to kill and harm others? This article argues that committing deadly violence against others requires that we repress our basic moral understanding of them and neutralize the moral significance of our actions. Indeed, it proposes that violence and evil in general are not possible without self-deception and bad faith. I use “neutralization” as a generic term for the psychological techniques we use to cover up the moral corruption of our destructive behaviors, such as dehumanizing others or denying our responsibility. Understanding neutralization as a repression of our moral understanding sheds new light on the moral-psychological dynamics of neutralization, for example, its ambivalent character, its tendency to escalate, and its self-dehumanizing nature. Moreover, the account of neutralization developed in the article provides the vantage point for a reading of the Iliad that explores the motives that drive the slaughter outside the walls of Troy, and the various psychological strategies employed by the warriors to neutralize the killing. My account of neutralization and my reading of the Iliad are developed in critical dialogue with Simone Weil’s classic essay on the Greek epic and her reflections on dehumanization in general.