Olek Netzer

Dehumanization. The Cognitive Roots of Fanaticism

Friedenspsychologie, Bd. 5, 155 S., brosch.,34,90 €. Münster: Lit-Verlag, 2019.
ISBN 978-3-643-91172-8

How can sane human beings justify in their own eyes even their most preposterous ideas about other people and the most inhumane acts of self and other's mass-destruction? - This book offers a comprehensive answer, based on the discovery of Alind areas on their cognitive map. They first dehumanize themselves, by becoming blind to their own human predisposition to error and sin in war. Since awareness of Blind Areas undermines the fanatics' self-justification system - introducing it in education and political culture could make possible decisive progress in countering fanaticism and humanizing the ways people think about themselves and their enemies in conflict.