An Antidote to Banal Society

Within our contemporary society of technological culture, the concept of banal evil has become “the culture of banal evil”, an evil that is not sought intentionally, but is occasionally provoked, freely or for futile reasons; the evil of action or inaction, of indifference, is characterised by one fixed feature: the absence of thought or judgement. The teachings of Socrates, then as now, provide an antidote to the process of banalisation evident in current society, a factor that erodes both capacity for reflexivity and the scope of relational proximity, resulting in a subtle dehumanisation of humanity and a reification of the persona.