Analysis: The Psychopath As A Moral Agent

Framework

The Psychopath as a Moral Agent This article sparked interest in this topic and inspired this research paper. J. Smith discusses how psychopaths and moral philosophy interact. The structure of this research paper is very similar to the structure of this article. For example, Smith looks at the moral philosophy areas of value theory, responsibility, and rationality, which are the same three that will be looked at here. He performs extensive research on these topics and finishes by reaching several of his own conclusions. How this paper will differ is that slightly different perspectives will be used to analyze the compatibility of psychopaths with the areas of moral philosophy. These different perspectives will be used to reach a

This article by H. Gough provides exactly that. He asserts that it only makes sense to analyze psychopaths from sociological perspective since it is their behavior that is used to identify them most often. Psychopaths have what Gough labels asocial behavior; this means that they do not act in a way that normal individuals find acceptable. While going through his sociological conception, Gough also mentions psychopathic tendencies that were listed on the checklist from the source above, like lacking the ability to set realistic long-term goals for example. This allows for nice consistency between the two different perspectives. Along with presenting an excellent account of psychopathy from the sociological point of view, Gough develops hypotheses that can be empirically tested. The hypotheses have to do with role-playing and the therapeutic and diagnostic aspects of it. In the end, Gough provides a slightly different look at this unique condition and one that allows for better understanding going forward through this paper. (Gough,

In this article by G. Harris and his coauthors, advocate for the checklist from the first source mentioned in this paper as well as addresses some different aspects of the condition. Some of those differing aspects include violent tendencies and criminal recidivism. They give an updated psychological perspective of this condition. With this being one of the more recent, sources used in this paper, it helps show that the conclusions reached in the previous two sources are still relevant in the modern era. (Harris, Skilling & Rice,