ponerology en · NOUN
Etymology
From Ancient Greek πονηρός (ponērós, “grievous, knavish”) + -ology; compare Ancient Greek πονηρολογίᾱ (ponērologíā, “bad reasoning”).
Meanings
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(uncountable) The study of evil.
Christian ponerology is divided into two leading sections, that of sin or the bad participating in guilt, and that of death or the bad which has participated in the same.
1849, Carl Immanuel Nitzsch, System of Christian doctrine, page 214:The end for which God created the world is not an impotent thought, but an earnest one, incessantly striving to become actual in the world; for which reason it cannot be thwarted by actual sin, which is to be treated of in ethical ponerology.
1887, Isaak August Dorner, System of Christian Ethics, page 53:To call Mao either the saint or the devil of China is relevant only to those who see history as a branch of ponerology.
1962, Edgar Snow, The Other Side of the River: Red China Today, page 122:To the charlatans who so desperately strive to perpetuate these pious frauds, such a threatened warm welcome is an essential feature of their gloomy ponerology — hence the puerile solemnity with which it continues to be invoked against all who temerously thumb the nose at their bogus thaumaturgy.
1958, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, page 27: