Philosophers On Psychopaths: A Cautionary Tale in Interdisciplinarity

Jalava, Jarkko; Griffiths, Stephanie

doi:10.1353/ppp.2017.0000

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Nonetheless, it remains difficult to interpret these alterations in terms of moral and legal responsibility. As indicated by some authors, mistakes, errors and problems of interpretation are frequent (Jalava & Griffiths, 2017), and there is an epistemological leap between the work of neuroscientists and their interpretation in terms of moral philosophy. The decisive question is not only about the existence of these neurobiological discoveries, but rather their correct interpretation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The controversial relationship between neuroscience and moral responsibility in psychopaths

Muñoz-Negro

Barbero

Smith

et al. 2018

Egypt J Forensic Sci

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Background: From fields such as neuroethics and legal medicine it is increasingly common to raise the issue on whether it is necessary to rethink questions such as moral and criminal responsibility in individuals fulfilling Hare's criteria for psychopathy. The Hare' s Psychopathy Checklist Revised is currently the diagnostic gold standard for psychopathy and defines a type of personality characterized by interpersonal, affective, and behavioral symptoms. Moral and criminal responsibility in these individuals is now being reconsidered due to new data provided by neuroscience. However, the translation from these neuroscientific findings into terms of moral responsibility is neither direct nor evident. The aim of this review is to assemble the available neuroscientific evidence and to clarify the moral consequences of these findings. Main text: A genetic base for psychopathy exists as well as brain functionality or even structural variations. However, these structural changes are not robust and consistent across the different studies. Moreover, this body of evidence uses different methodologies and, for this reason, it is hardly comparable. Findings from the field of neuropsychology such as the emotional alterations, empathy impairment or emotional theory of mind (ToM) deviance are equivocal, controversial, and a focus of debate. These can be well understood as correlates of the particular psychopaths' moral functioning more than as a deterministic causality for their conduct. In addition, a biological and neuropsychological model of moral responsibility open to scientific analysis does not exist. Ultimately, moral responsibility has a biological and neuropsychological basis, but it cannot be fully explained by these constructs. Conclusion: This review assesses new findings in the study of moral and criminal responsibility in psychopaths, and the different interpretations about them. It concludes that, in the absence of an experimental model of moral responsibility, current data, though controversial, are not definitive arguments that can reduce or to eliminate moral, and subsequently, criminal responsibility.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The controversial relationship between neuroscience and moral responsibility in psychopaths

Muñoz-Negro

Barbero

Smith

et al. 2018

Egypt J Forensic Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Moreover, although psychopathy tends to be construed as a personality disorder, it is not an established category in prominent diagnostic manuals, such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) or the International Classification of Diseases (World Health Organization, 2020). There is also a lingering suspicion that personality disorders in general, and so psychopathy, present not so much a legitimate medical category as a classification of people according to the degree and the type of deviance they display from established social or moral norms (Charland, 2006; Jalava & Griffiths, 2017; Mullen, 2007; Sadler, 2008). These reservations point to general issues regarding how to define mental disorder, which in the case of psychopathy presents further problems because, depending on the notion of mental disorder adopted, we get different verdicts on whether psychopathy is a mental disorder (Nadelhoffer & Sinnott-Armstrong, 2013).…”

Section: Approaches To the Social Response To Psychopathymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Societal Response to Psychopathy in the Community

Jurjako

Malatesti

Brazil

2021

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

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The harm usually associated with psychopathy requires therapeutically, legally, and ethically satisfactory solutions. Scholars from different fields have, thus, examined whether empirical evidence shows that individuals with psychopathic traits satisfy concepts, such as responsibility, mental disorder, or disability, that have specific legal or ethical implications. The present paper considers the less discussed issue of whether psychopathy is a disability. As it has been shown for the cases of the responsibility and mental disorder status of psychopathic individuals, we argue that it is undecided whether psychopathy is a disability. Nonetheless, based on insights from disability studies and legislations, we propose that interventions to directly modify the propensities of individuals with psychopathic tendencies should be balanced with modifications of the social and physical environments to accommodate their peculiarities. We also suggest how this social approach in some practical contexts that involve non-offender populations might be effective in addressing some of the negative effects of psychopathy.

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“…Также Клекли был главным редактором университетского ежегодника-издания, где публиковались все научные работы студентов [26]. В списке самых известных выпускников UGA за 232-летнюю историю существования последнего, имя Херви Клекли занимает 66-е место [26,51]. Достижения Клекли в Содержимое доступно по лицензии Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC-BY 4.0) академической и спортивной карьере, позволили ему стать стипендиатом Родса (одна из 24 стипендиальных программ для студентов UGA).…”

Section: штрихи биографииunclassified

Hervey Cleckley: A Man ahead of Time

Викторович

Владимировна

2019

ISci

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Hervey Cleckley is one of the most influential psychiatrists of the 20th century. Part of his scientific research still causes debates in the scientific world, especially his works about «successful psychopaths» and the curability of psychopathy. Most of Cleckley’s scientific works in the field of the study of psychopathy are well known to most modern scholars, and some of his articles have become textbooks. At the same time, his works on dissociative personality are less known in the professional community. Through the time, his scientific achievements have not lost their relevance and scientific novelty.

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Philosophers On Psychopaths: A Cautionary Tale in Interdisciplinarity

Cited by 19 publications

References 45 publications

The controversial relationship between neuroscience and moral responsibility in psychopaths

The controversial relationship between neuroscience and moral responsibility in psychopaths

The Societal Response to Psychopathy in the Community

Hervey Cleckley: A Man ahead of Time

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