«Stupidità del male» e «intelligenza delle emozioni»: compassione, pensiero e memoria come antidoti al male organizzato

Using as a starting point the reading of a narrative work (the novel “La delazione”, by Roberto Cazzola), set during the German occupation of Turin in World War II, this essay analyzes the prerequisites for moral decisions (such as empathy, compassion, narrative immagination, recognition) and the “systemic” and “situational” mechanisms which can inhibit them. Dealing with the phenomenon known to criminologist as “organizational crime”, this work retrace the main factors that, inside organizations of various kinds, contribute to the construction of moral insensitivity amongst in the individual agents, ultimately leading to the perpetration of serious crimes whose deepest roots must be traced not in individual features, but in organizational and social factors. These same causes can be traced in current episodes of so called corporate crime, and must be considered by both legislators and the judiciary. Some final brief considerations about the value of memory, both as a form of restoration for the harm caused by past crimes, and a tool for prevention of future crimes, are also provided.