Educating against political corruption: Rethinking the belief that power always corrupts

Araujo-Frias J. · Clio. Revista de Historia, Ciencias Humanas y Pensamiento Critico. (2025) · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17973064

Resumen

Political corruption is a public calamity that demands immediate action. Our purpose is to unravel its genesis using a philosophical analysis complemented by cognitive neuroscience, seeking a solution beyond mere institutional reform. The methodology is based on the analysis of twelve concepts of corruption from contemporary philosophers, which concludes that power is the main perverted element, and it enters into dialogue with cognitive neuroscience to explore the reform of beliefs. The main result is that the root of the problem is not intrinsic power, but the shared belief that 'power always corrupts,' which causes citizens to tolerate it as an inevitable evil. The conclusion is that the effective fight does not lie in reforming institutions, but in eradicating this belief through education, the only principal tool capable of reforming the mind and beliefs of citizens.

Instituciones: Universidad de Huánuco