“Given the modern scientific understanding of human behavior in terms of natural laws, everything is determined by chemical reactions and evil arise solely from a miscalculation of the appropriate way of satisfying genetically determined inclinations. This the philosophy of progress; anyone who demurs is labeled irrational and sent for medical treatment. If one actually tries to live consciously in accord with Enlightenment dicta, the result is a paralyzing hyperconsciousness, psychic inertia. (The classic statement of this is Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground.) Precisely what is supposed to lead to the rational satisfaction of all our longings deprives our deliberations of meaning and our actions of any root in freedom. Having seen the presuppositions and consequences of Enlightenment theory, who could go on as before? Indeed, who could act at all? If this is right, then there is the possibility of immersing oneself in evil precisely as a means of asserting one’s freedom and dignity. This is Lecter’s path” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows About Nothing, (Dallas, Tx: Spence Publishing Company, 1999), p. 80.]
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