Stories About Normal and Moral Behaviors - Aug 08,2013

It is often assumed that what is considered normal behavior is also moral and what is considered abnormal behavior is also immoral. This assumption seems based on the idea that human beings are essentially "good" and that when we see what we might consider "evil" we are seeing the unusual or the deviant. I suggest that these assumptions are defense mechanisms and represent our need to escape from our own and societal acts that might be considered evil. These mechanisms involve a search for perfection, perhaps the most common source of immoral behavior. I will employ the theory of the psychoanalyst Karen Horney to explain our dilemma and what we might do about it.

Normal Behavior | Moral Behavior | Good versus evil | Searching for Perfection | Karen Horney