Responsibility and psychopathy

Interfacing law, psychiatry and philosophy

Edited by Luca Malatesti and John McMillan

International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

Brings together in one place an interdisciplinary range of ideas and viewpoints, usually scattered throughout the literature
A book on one of most contentious and debated topics of our times - the moral responsibility of those suffering from psychopathological disorders
Includes contributions from psychologists, philosophers, and lawyers, offering readers within each of those disciplines insights from people outside their own field of expertise

Responsibility and psychopathy

Interfacing law, psychiatry and philosophy

Edited by Luca Malatesti and John McMillan

International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

Description

Psychopaths have emotional impairments that can be expressed in persistent criminal behavior. UK and US law has traditionally excused disordered individuals for their crimes citing these emotional impairments as a cause for their criminal behaviour. The discussion of whether psychopaths are morally responsible for their behaviour has long taken place in the realm of philosophy. However, in recent years, this has moved into scientific and psychiatric investigation, fundamentally so with the development of Robert Hare's diagnostic tool, the Psychopathy Checklist.

Responsibility and Psychopathy explores the moral responsibility of psychopaths. It engages with problems at the interface of law, psychiatry, and philosophy, and is divided into three parts providing relevant interdisciplinary background information to address this main problem.

The first part discusses the public policy and legal responses to psychopathy. It offers an introduction to the central practical issue of how public policy should respond to psychopathy, giving insights for those arguing about the responsibility of psychopaths.

The second part introduces recent scientific advancements in the classification, description, and explanation of psychopathy. In particular, Robert Hare illustrates and defends his Psychopathy Checklist (PCL). Surveys of the most recent brain imaging studies on psychopaths and the prospects for treatment are also included.

The third part of the volume includes chapters covering the most significant dimensions of philosophical debate on the moral and criminal responsibility of psychopaths. In relation to this issue, philosophers have considered whether psychopathic offenders possess moral understanding and/or are capable of controlling their criminal behaviour. This part illustrates how answering these questions involves investigating highly debated and central philosophical problems. These difficulties concern the nature of moral understanding, the significance of emotive and cognitive faculties in moral understanding and motivation, and the most appropriate account of moral and criminal responsibility that can justify a response to the psychopathic offenders.

Exploring one of the most contentious topics of our time, this book is fascinating reading for psychiatrists, philosophers, criminologists, and lawyers.

Responsibility and psychopathy

Interfacing law, psychiatry and philosophy

Edited by Luca Malatesti and John McMillan

International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

1. Introduction: interfacing law, philosophy and psychiatry, John McMillan and Luca Malatesti
Psychopathy and the Law
2. Psychopathy and criminal responsibility in historical perspective, Tony Ward
3. Stabbing in the dark: English law relating to psychopathy, Peter Bartlett
4. Psychopathy and the law: the United States experience, Stephen J. Morse
5. Policies, law and psychopathy: a critical stance from political philosophy, Matt Matravers
Psychopathy: A New Research Paradigm
6. Defending PCL-R, Luca Malatesti and John McMillan
7. Psychopathy: assessment and forensic implications, Robert D. Hare and Craig S. Neumann
8. Neurodevelopmental bases of psychopathy: a review of brain imaging studies, Carla Harenski, Robert D. Hare, and Kent A. Kiehl
9. The treatment of psychopathy: clinical nihilism or steps in the right direction?, James R. P. Ogloff and Melisa Wood
The Responsibility of the Psychopathic Offender
10. Responsibility and psychopathy, John McMillan and Luca Malatesti
11. Psychopathy and answerability, Antony Duff
12. Psychopathy, responsibility and the moral/conventional distinction, Neil Levy
13. Rationalism, emotivism, and the psychopath, Heidi L. Maibom
14. Reasons, emotion, and moral judgment in the psychopath, Jeanette Kennett
15. The inauthentic evaluative schemes of psychopaths and culpability, Ishtiyaque Haji
16. Intentional action, moral responsibility and psychopaths, Grant Gillett
17. Will a stroke of neuroscience ever eradicate evil?, Ronald de Sousa and Douglas Heinrichs
18. Conclusions: psychopathy and responsibility, a rejoinder, Luca Malatesti and John McMillan

Responsibility and psychopathy

Interfacing law, psychiatry and philosophy

Edited by Luca Malatesti and John McMillan

International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

Author Information

Luca Malatesti received his doctorate in philosophy of science from the University of Genoa and his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Stirling. He was Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute of Applied Ethics at the University of Hull. He is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rijeka (Croatia). His areas of research are philosophy of mind and philosophy of psychiatry.

John McMillan is Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, Flinders University. Prior to this appointment he worked at the Hull York Medical School (2004-9), Cambridge (2002-4), Oxford (1998-2002) and Otago (1995-8) where he taught ethics to philosophy and medical students. He is an editor of The Principles of Healthcare Ethics (with Ashcroft, Dawson and Draper) 2007, Empirical Ethics in Psychiatry (with Widdershoven, Hope and Van der Scheer) 2008 and The Limits of Consent (with Corrigan, Liddell, Richards and Weijer) 2009. He was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics working party on ethical issues and dementia which reported on October 1st, 2009. He is about to begin work on a book The Methods of Bioethics (with Adrian Walsh).