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Any situation in which one person objectively exploits another person hinders the human pursuit of self-affirmation and self-determination as a mature and responsible person. It constitutes a form of direct, indirect and structural violence, even when domination is sugar-coated by a pretended generosity, aid-giving, charity, pateralisation, or corporate philanthropy. Any domination interferes with the moral-philosophical ability of human beings to be fully human. The pure set-up of domination already establishes violence in some form. Hardly ever in human history has cruelty and bloodshed been initiated by those seeking emancipation. How could they have ever been the initiators of aggression and brutality? Perhaps it occurred in very rare cases where they themselves have been products of violence and have failed to reflect on what had been done to them. Once human beings start to reflect on the existence of domination and violence, they begin to overcome the pathologies that have been loaded onto them by their masters. Oppression and domination would have never existed if there were no preceding conditions of violence that allowed subjugation to flourish.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-40778-4_3

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