The Prison You Can’t See
How coercive control traps people, from abusive relationships to high-control religious groups? Most people picture abuse as something visible: a bruise, a broken door, a police report. But some of the most damaging forms of abuse leave no marks at all. Researchers call it coercive control: a pattern of psychological violence, intimidation, and isolation through which one person gradually takes over another person’s life, daily routine, and even thoughts. A crime against liberty The idea took shape in the women’s shelter movement of the 1970s. Advocates noticed that the usual focus on physical assault missed something. For many survivors, the
Conceptions of Humanity
The rapid scientific and technological advances of recent centuries have profoundly changed humanity’s understanding of itself. Through their scientific revolutions, Copernicus and Darwin transformed the conception of the human being: “The Earth is not the center of the universe” and “The human being is also only an animal.” Today, the fields in which questions concerning human nature and the need for ethical limits are most intensively debated include biogenetics, where the human genome can be copied and altered; medical ethics, including assisted suicide and preimplantation genetic diagnosis; brain research, which raises the question of how free the human will is;