Corpse-like obedience
{{Short description|German philosophy idea}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
Corpse-like obedience ({{Langx|de|Kadavergehorsam}}, also translated as corpse obedience, cadaver obedience, cadaver-like obedience, zombie-like obedience, slavish obedience, unquestioning obedience, absolute obedience or blind obedience) refers to an obedience in which the obeying person submits unreservedly to another's will, like a mindless, animated cadaver.
Jesuit origin
The term originated with the Jesuit work by Ignatius of Loyola from 1553, the Letter on Obedience.{{Cite book |last=Pólit |first=Manuel María Espinosa |url=https://archive.org/details/perfectobedience0000manu |title=Perfect Obedience: Commentary on the Letter on Obedience of Saint Ignatius of Loyola |date=1947 |publisher=Newman Bookshop |pages=2 |language=en}} It has also been dated to 1558. That text said, in Latin: "{{Lang|la|Et sibi quisque persuadeat, quod qui sub Obedientia vivunt, se ferri ac regi a divina Providentia per Superiores suos sinere debent perinde, ac si cadaver essent}}" which can be translated as "We should be aware that each of those who live in obedience must allow himself to be led and guided by Divine Providence through the Superior, as if he were a dead body".{{Cite journal |last=Pieri |first=Veronica De |date=20 June 2023 |title=Wird irgendetwas mit mir geschehen? Psycho(patho)logical perspectives on Hannah Arendt's The Banality of Evil |url=https://dive-in.unibo.it/article/view/17278 |journal=Dive-In |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=7–42 |doi=10.6092/issn.2785-3233/17278 |issn=2785-3233}}{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=J.R. |date=September 1978 |title=The Jesuit-Mail Libel Case: An example of nineteenth-century anti-Catholicisml |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000842987800700304 |journal=Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=295–303 |doi=10.1177/000842987800700304 |issn=0008-4298|url-access=subscription }}{{Citation |last=Friedrich |first=Markus |title=Ignatius's Governing and Administrating the Society of Jesus |date=1 January 2014 |work=A Companion to Ignatius of Loyola |pages=123–140 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004280601/B9789004280601-s009.xml |access-date=27 March 2024 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-28060-1}}{{Cite book |last=Clooney |first=Francis Xavier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQbSlZza2q8C&dq=Kadavergehorsam+jesuit&pg=PA124 |title=Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship, Vocation, and Identity in the 21st Century |date=2006 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-1401-8 |pages=124 |language=en}} The concept, described in the Jesuit context as "fabled and misunderstood",{{Citation |last=Nelles |first=Paul |title=Jesuit Letters |date=12 June 2019 |work=The Oxford Handbook of the Jesuits |pages=43–72 |editor-last=Županov |editor-first=Ines G. |url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34656/chapter/295288079 |access-date=27 March 2024 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190639631.013.3 |isbn=978-0-19-063963-1|url-access=subscription }} has since been criticised by detractors of the Jesuit order as blind obedience.{{Cite book |last=Healy |first=Roísin |title=The Jesuit Specter in Imperial Germany |date=1 January 2003 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-0-391-04194-3 |page=159 |language=en |chapter=The Moral Critique: Infiltrators of the Private Sphere |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=om6MiDM8sNQC&dq=Kadavergehorsam+jesuit&pg=PA159}}{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=J. R. |date=September 1978 |title=The Jesuit-Mail Libel Case: An example of nineteenth-century anti-Catholicism |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000842987800700304 |journal=Studies in Religion |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=295–303 |doi=10.1177/000842987800700304 |issn=0008-4298|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Hopfl |first=Harro M. |date=September 2000 |title=Ordered Passions: Commitment and Hierarchy in the Organizational Ideas of the Jesuit Founders |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1350507600313003 |journal=Management Learning |language=en |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=313–329 |doi=10.1177/1350507600313003 |issn=1350-5076|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Bjork |first=J. |date=1 October 2006 |title=Book Review: The War Against Catholicism: Liberalism and the Anti-Catholic Imagination in Nineteenth Century Germany, The Jesuit Specter in Imperial Germany |url=https://academic.oup.com/gh/article-lookup/doi/10.1177/0266355406070353 |journal=German History |language=en |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=631–634 |doi=10.1177/0266355406070353 |issn=0266-3554|url-access=subscription }} Jesuit supporters, in turn, refer to it as the "perfect obedience".
Modern use
The term is often associated with Germany (where it is known as {{Lang|de|Kadavergehorsam}}), where it refers to "both obedience and loyalty until death"{{Cite journal |last=Krüger |first=Michael |date=December 1996 |title=Body culture and nation building: the history of gymnastics in germany in the period of its foundation as a nation-state |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523369608713957 |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=409–417 |doi=10.1080/09523369608713957 |issn=0952-3367|url-access=subscription }} or simply "absolute obedience"{{Cite journal |last1=Ströhle |first1=Andreas |last2=Wrase |first2=Jana |last3=Malach |first3=Henry |last4=Gestrich |first4=Christof |last5=Heinz |first5=Andreas |date=May 2008 |title=Karl Bonhoeffer (1868–1948) |url=https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.07061031 |journal=American Journal of Psychiatry |volume=165 |issue=5 |pages=575–576 |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.07061031 |pmid=18450939 |issn=0002-953X|url-access=subscription }} or "blind obedience".{{Citation |last=Barnett |first=Bernard |title=The Holocaust, its aftermath, and the problem of the superego |date=2001 |work=Within Time and Beyond Time |pages=94–107 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429485152-7/holocaust-aftermath-problem-superego-bernard-barnett |access-date=27 March 2024 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780429485152-7 |isbn=978-0-429-48515-2|url-access=subscription }} It has been associated with the discussion of German military and administration of the Prussian{{Cite book |last=Dwyer |first=Philip G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGvJAwAAQBAJ&dq=Kadavergehorsam+prussia&pg=PA268 |title=Modern Prussian History: 1830–1947 |date=11 June 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-88700-3 |pages=268 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Forner |first=Sean A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EHY3DgAAQBAJ&dq=Kadavergehorsam+prussia&pg=PA126 |title=German Intellectuals and the Challenge of Democratic Renewal: Culture and Politics After 1945 |date=23 March 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-62783-3 |pages=126 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Pflanze |first=Otto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EET_DwAAQBAJ&dq=Kadavergehorsam+prussia&pg=PA19 |title=Bismarck and the Development of Germany: The Period of Unification, 1815-1871 |date=10 November 2020 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-22157-1 |pages=19 |language=en}} and Nazi eras and their passive adherence to carrying out orders, including those later judged to be war crimes (see also Prussian virtues, German militarism, {{lang|de|Befehlsnotstand}}, {{lang|de|Führerprinzip}}, and superior orders).{{Cite journal |last=Visser |first=Max |date=1 August 2008 |title=Learning under conditions of hierarchy and discipline: the case of the German Army, 1939–1940 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s11519-008-0031-7 |journal=Learning Inquiry |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=127–137 |doi=10.1007/s11519-008-0031-7 |issn=1558-2981|hdl=10818/35080 |hdl-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Toro |first=Alfonso de |date=1 May 2016 |title=Lo indecible, lo irrepresentable: Topografías: terror e intertextualidad El desierto de Carlos Franz / La vida doble de Arturo Fontaine |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ibero-2016-0004/pdf?licenseType=restricted |journal=Iberoromania |language=en |volume=2016 |issue=83 |pages=35–55 |doi=10.1515/ibero-2016-0004 |issn=1865-9039|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |last=Finney |first=Gail |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cN23P-PHTWcC&dq=F%C3%BChrerprinzip+Kadavergehorsam&pg=PA235 |title=Visual Culture in Twentieth-century Germany: Text as Spectacle |date=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-34718-3 |pages=238 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Dinstein |first=Yoram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Dp-6pK4uGIC&dq=%22superior+orders%22+Kadavergehorsam&pg=PR133 |title=The Defence of 'Obedience to Superior Orders' in International Law |date=25 October 2012 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-164983-7 |pages=133 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=McKale |first=Donald M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aX4IuvfX194C&dq=Kadavergehorsam+nazi&pg=PA47 |title=Hitler's Shadow War: The Holocaust and World War II |date=17 March 2006 |publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing |isbn=978-1-4616-3547-5 |pages=47 |language=en}}{{excessive citations inline|date=August 2024}} The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of 1933 has been credited with enforcing this idea in the Nazi German civil administration. Adolf Eichmann, one of the major organisers of the Holocaust, invoked this concept in his defence during his post-war trial.{{Cite book |last=Larsen |first=Øjvind |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFM8DwAAQBAJ&dq=Kadavergehorsam+definition&pg=PT95 |title=Administration, Ethics and Democracy |date=1 November 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-76885-6 |pages=95 |language=en}}{{Citation |last=Loiacono |first=Fiorenza |title=The Capacity to Empathise as a Basis of Ethics: Educational Implications |date=1 January 2016 |work=Promises, Pedagogy and Pitfalls: Empathy’s Potential for Healing and Harm |pages=99–109 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9781848884281/BP000011.xml |access-date=27 March 2024 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-1-84888-428-1}}
The term has also been used in the context of other totalitarian regimes, such as communist states and parties.{{Citation |last1=Mazurkiewicz |first1=Piotr |title=Introduction: Why Totalitarianism? |date=13 October 2021 |work=Totalitarianism in the Postmodern Age |pages=1–9 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004465053/BP000001.xml |access-date=27 March 2024 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-46505-3 |last2=Gierycz |first2=Michał |last3=Wielecki |first3=Krzysztof |last4=Sulkowski |first4=Mariusz |last5=Zarzecki |first5=Marcin}}{{Citation |last1=Mazurkiewicz |first1=Piotr |title=Totalitarianism in the Postmodern Age: A Report on Young People's Attitudes to Totalitarianism |date=29 June 2023 |work=Totalitarianism in the Postmodern Age |url=https://brill.com/display/title/60300 |access-date=27 March 2024 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-46505-3 |last2=Gierycz |first2=Michal |last3=Wielecki |first3=Krzysztof |last4=Sulkowski |first4=Mariusz |last5=Zarzecki |first5=Marcin}}{{Cite journal |last=Pundeff |first=Marin |date=1986 |title=Dimitrov at Leipzig: Was There a Deal? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2499057 |journal=Slavic Review |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=545–549 |doi=10.2307/2499057 |jstor=2499057 |issn=0037-6779|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Häberlen |first=Joachim C. |date=February 2013 |title=Between Class War on All Fronts and Anti-Political Autonomy: The Contested Place of Politics in the Working-Class Movements of Leipzig and Lyon during the Inter-War Years |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/contemporary-european-history/article/abs/between-class-war-on-all-fronts-and-antipolitical-autonomy-the-contested-place-of-politics-in-the-workingclass-movements-of-leipzig-and-lyon-during-the-interwar-years/F066B7F9CDE3A4327D4A22144E6C3F0E |journal=Contemporary European History |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=33–63 |doi=10.1017/S0960777312000471 |issn=0960-7773|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0024-EA6A-F |hdl-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Dallin |first=Alexander |date=May 1958 |title=The Soviet Stake in Eastern Europe |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000271625831700118 |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |language=en |volume=317 |issue=1 |pages=138–145 |doi=10.1177/000271625831700118 |issn=0002-7162|url-access=subscription }}{{Citation |last=Lih |first=Lars T. |title=After the Second Congress |date=1 January 2006 |work=Lenin Rediscovered |pages=489–553 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789047417873/BP000011.xml |access-date=27 March 2024 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-474-1787-3}}{{excessive citations inline|date=August 2024}} The concept has been described as promoted by works such as The Communist Manifesto or {{lang|de|Mein Kampf}}.
The concept has also been mentioned in the context of extreme interpretation of military discipline.{{Cite journal |last=Plowman |first=Andrew |date=2007 |title="Staatsbürger in Uniform"? Looking back at the Bundeswehr in Jochen Missfeldt's Gespiegelter Himmel and Sven Regener's Neue Vahr Süd |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/217099 |journal=Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=163–175 |doi=10.1353/smr.2007.0036 |issn=1911-026X|url-access=subscription }}
Some scholars have translated the term as zombie-like obedience.{{Cite journal |last=Lih |first=Lars T |date=2003 |title=How a Founding Document Was Found, or One Hundred Years of Lenin's What is to Be Done? |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/28/article/39591 |journal=Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=5–49 |doi=10.1353/kri.2003.0008 |issn=1538-5000|url-access=subscription }} A similar variation occurs in Nigerian afrobeat artist Fela Kuti's song "Zombie" (from the album of the same name), in which Kuti calls Nigerian soldiers zombies as a critique of the country's military government.{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Owen |title=The Story of Fela Kuti 'Gentleman' & 'Zombie' |url=https://classicalbumsundays.com/album-of-the-month-fela-kuti-gentleman-zombie/ |website=Classic Album Sundays |date=10 November 2017 |access-date=28 April 2024 |ref=Jones, Owen}}{{cite web |last1=Lalwani |first1=Vijayta |title=The Art of Resistance: 'Zombie' by Nigerian musician Fela Kuti questions repressive governments |url=https://scroll.in/article/948202/the-art-of-resistance-zombie-by-fela-kuti-questions-repressive-governments |website=Scroll.in |access-date=28 April 2024 |ref=Lalwani 2020 |date=1 January 2020}}