“Each individual possesses a conscience which to a greater or lesser degree serves to restrain the unimpeded flow of impulses destructive to others.”
Source: Obedience to Authority : An Experimental View (1974), p. 188
Context: Each individual possesses a conscience which to a greater or lesser degree serves to restrain the unimpeded flow of impulses destructive to others. But when he merges his person into an organizational structure, a new creature replaces autonomous man, unhindered by the limitations of individual morality, freed of humane inhibition, mindful only of the sanctions of authority.
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Stanley Milgram11
Social psychologist 1933–1984Related quotes
Pietro Metastasio Achille in Sciro
Del terreno nel concavo seno
Vasto incendio se bolle ristretto,
A dispetto del carcere indegno,
Con più sdegno gran strada si fa.
Fugge allora; ma, intanto che fugge,
Crolla, abbatte, sovverte, distrugge
Piani, monti, foreste e città.
Act III, scene 3.
Achille in Sciro (1736)
Béla H. Bánáthy (1919–2003) Hungarian linguist and systems scientist
Source: Designing Social Systems in a Changing World (1996), p. 231; About the essence of the design community
Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) Austrian-American psychoanalyst
Source: The Function of the Orgasm (1927), Ch. V : The Development of the Character-Analytic Technique
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
1910s, Political Ideals (1917)
Dinesh D'Souza (1961) Indian-American political commentator, filmmaker, author
Two cheers for colonialism http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Two-cheers-for-colonialism-2799327.php (7 July 2002).
John of St. Samson (1571–1636)
From The Goad, the Flames, the Arrows and the Mirror of the love of God
Maimónides book The Guide for the Perplexed
Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.17