Philip Hallie

Philip Paul Hallie (1922–1994) was an American author, philosopher, and professor at Wesleyan University for 32 years. During World War II, he served in the US Army. He earned degrees from Harvard, Oxford (as a Fulbright Scholar), and Grinnell College. Hallie developed the model of institutional cruelty, which he defined as a persistent pattern of humiliation within a community where both victimizer and victim find ways to downplay the harm. He believed that cruelty stems from an imbalance of power and that the opposite of institutionalized cruelty is freedom from the cruel relationship, not merely kindness. Hallie argued that institutional cruelty demotes individuality, citing a quote from a Nazi SS Officer about commitment overriding sentimentality. His published works generally explored the nature of ethics, good and evil, cruelty, and kindness, with particular reference to the French Resistance at Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. He proposed that hospitality, described as unsentimental, efficacious love, is the only true cure for cruelty.