How do Intelligent People become Instruments of Evil?

Why do people surrender their intelligence and fall into madness?

How do they then allow themselves to turn a blind eye to evil deeds and even to commit evil deeds themselves?

Why does a person’s belief system make facts inconsequential

Bonhoeffer makes a distinction between lack of intelligence and stupidity and even said that intelligent people can be stupid. How might we define stupidity in this context if stupidity is not simply lack of intelligence?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Theory of Stupidity,” written from a prison cell during the Nazi resistance, is one of the most insightful psychological critiques of human behavior. For Bonhoeffer, stupidity is not a cognitive defect, but a moral and sociological one.

Here is how we can define stupidity through his lens:

1. Stupidity as a Moral Failure

Bonhoeffer argued that stupidity is not an intellectual flaw but a “moral defect.” A person may have a high IQ, a PhD, or a successful career, yet be profoundly stupid. This happens because the individual has surrendered their capacity for independent thought.

While an “unintelligent” person simply lacks the tools to process complex data, a “stupid” person has the tools but refuses to use them—or uses them only to defend a predetermined conclusion.

2. The Influence of Public Power

One of Bonhoeffer’s most famous observations is that stupidity is a byproduct of historical and sociological forces. He noted that:

• Power breeds stupidity: When a person is swept up by a powerful movement or ideology, they are deprived of their inner independence.
• The “Groupthink” Effect: As a person becomes part of a “mob” or a rigid political movement, they stop functioning as an individual and become a tool.

3. Resistance to Facts

In Bonhoeffer’s view, the hallmark of stupidity is invulnerability to reason.

• The Unintelligent person can be taught or corrected through new information.
• The Stupid person is satisfied with themselves. When faced with facts that contradict their worldview, they simply push them aside as irrelevant or trivial. If the facts are undeniable, the stupid person becomes irritated or aggressive.

4. Stupidity vs. Unintelligence

To understand the distinction, we can look at how they function in a social environment:

The “Cure” for Stupidity

Bonhoeffer concluded that stupidity cannot be overcome by instruction or “talk.” Because it is a moral and social problem, it can only be cured by an internal liberation. A person must regain their individual responsibility and moral conscience before they can start thinking clearly again.

In short, stupidity is the voluntary abdication of one’s own critical faculties in favor of the safety of a collective “truth.”