Vol 2, No 10, 2003 pp. 759-768
UDC 111.84 Kant: 316.75+323.28
IDEOLOGY IN BETWEEN RADICAL AND DIABOLICAL EVIL:
KANT'S 'ETHICS OF THE REAL'
Iavor Rangelov
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
E-mail: iavorrangelov@hotmail.com
Abstract. Kant's distinction between radical evil (i.e. 'pathologically' motivated via recourse to certain contingent interest) and diabolical evil (i.e. disinterested, lacking any self-oriented, contingent motivation) presents itself to a Lacanian-style analysis that illuminates the mechanism by means of which ideology functions at its most deleterious yet fundamental level. In de-subjectivizing the Law, thus relieving the subject from the indeterminacy inserted by Kant in the moral Law – the indeterminacy which ultimately forces the subject to assume full responsibility for his own deeds, ideology is capable of effectively rendering diabolical evil conceivable. Indeed, in instances such as the Holocaust or more current genocides and fights against "terror", diabolical evil becomes phenomenalizable once the subject loses his recourse to the dimension of "teleological" or final judgment and replaces it with certain pseudo-final judgment defined by the imperatives of a contingent duty within a particular ideology. Herein lies the kernel of Kant's 'ethics of the Real' as a fundamental rejection and condemnation of ideology: the encounter with the moral Law is always conditioned on its failure, on 'not going all the way', since at the 'end' awaits the diabolical evil of jouissance, the terrifying dimension of the Real, of self-disintegration and collapse of reality and morality alike. This paper attempts to conceive of a possible phenomenalization of diabolical evil as manifested in the conflict in Chechnya, therefore becoming extremely topical in its reference to "war against terrorism" and its potential for becoming an ideological mask for the mechanism that brings about the eruption of the Lacanian terrifying dimension of the Real in the midst of contemporary social reality.
Key words:  Ideology, Radical evil, Diabolical evil, De-subjectivizing the (moral) Law, Jouissance, Ethics of the Real, War against terrorism.
IDEOLOGIJA IZMEĐU RADIKALNOG I DIABOLIČNOG ZLA:
KANTOVA ETIKA STVARNOG
Kantova razlika izmedju radikalnog zla (tj. 'patološki' motivisanog usmeravanjem ka nekom mogućem interesu) i dijaboličkog zla (tj. nepristrasnog, bez orijentacije na sebe, sa slučajnom motivacijom) podložna je analizi u lakanovskom stilu koja rasvetljava mehanizam uz čiju pomoć ideologija funkcioniše na najpogubnijem, ali ipak fundamentalnom nivou. Ideologija je u stanju da dijaboličko zlo efektivno učini zamislivim putem desubjektivizacije Zakona, na taj način oslobadjajući subjekat neodredjenosti koju je Kant uneo u moralni Zakon - neodredjenosti koja u konačnom nagoni subjekat da prezme potpunu odgovornost za svoja sopstevna dela. Zaista, u slučajevima kao što je Holokaust ili skorašnji primeri genocida i borbe protiv 'terora', dijaboličko zlo postaje fenomenalizujuće čim subjekat izgubi pristup dimenziji 'teleološkog' ili konačnog suda i zameni ga odredjenim pseudo-konačnim sudom definisanim imperativima mogućih dužnosti u okviru odredjene ideologije. Ovde počiva jezgro Kantove 'etike Stvarnog' kao fundamentalnog odbacivanja i osude ideologije: suočavanje sa moralnim Zakonom uvek je uslovljeno njegovim neuspehom, time što se 'ne ide do kraja', pošto na 'kraju' čeka dijaboličko zlo u vidu jouissance, ona zastrašujuća dimenzija Stvarnog, samodezintegracije i propasti stvarnosti kao i moralnosti. Ovaj rad predstavlja pokušaj da se osmisli moguća fenomenalizacija dijaboličkog zla onako kako se ono ispoljilo u sukbima u Čečeniji usled čega je postalo izuzetno aktuelno zbog pozivanja na 'rat protiv terorizma' i mogućnosti da postane ideološka maska za mehanizam koji doprinosi erupciji lakanovske zastrašujuće dimenzije Stvarnog u sred savremene društvene stvarnosti.