2024/08/30 by Kim A. Wagner · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #Torture, Ethics, and Law
paper · doi:10.1080/09515089.2024.2397003
openalex publication_date 2024/08/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
Commentary as part of the book symposium on Ditte Marie Munch-Jurisic’s, Perpetrator Disgust: The Moral Limits of Gut Feelings (2022): In Perpetrator Disgust, Ditte Marie Munch-Jurisic provides a fascinating exploration of the emotional anguish experienced by perpetrators of atrocity during the 20th century. One of her most poignant insights is that physical discomfort rarely, if ever, compelled perpetrators to stop or reconsider the morality of their actions. Instead, it forced them to develop new strategies to avoid the emotional toll and to achieve their aims with greater efficiency. In this commentary, I discuss some of the aspects of Munch-Jurisic’s argument, especially in regard to the definition of “perpetrator” as an analytical concept that might warrant further examination.