Resumo

LEON GONZALEZ, Adolfo. The Cacica, the King of England and the King of the Birds: Introduction to the Concept of “Demon without Instructions” in the Study of Power’s Cruelty. Rev. filos. Univ. Iberoam. [online]. 2023, vol.55, n.155, pp.156-194.  Epub 17-Maio-2024. ISSN 2954-4602.  https://doi.org/10.48102/rdf.v55i155.181.

This paper approaches the little-studied aspect of the moral and legal ambiguity of the executioner -which has historically allowed political power the possibility of denying morally reprehensible violence-, based on the comparative analysis of three mythical and historical cases: 1) the torture of Captain Añasco at the hands of La Gaitana during La Conquista; 2) Becket’s martyrdom by the knights of Henry II of England; and, 3) the massacres of liberals in the western Colombian mountain range during La Violencia. We demonstrate that the legitimacy of cruel violence is linked to the concepts of duty and sacrifice, but also requires a possibility of denial that preserves the morality of authority. A demon without instructions that autonomously executes a collective will to punish appears as a necessary historical mechanism to modulate the relationship that political power maintains with the cruelty that serves its ends.

Palavras-chave : Executioner; torture; political violence; law; inner enemy; will to punish.