Moral responsibility and the psychopath : the value of others /
Baxter, Jim(Jim D.),author.
"Introduction Imagine someone to whom other people are truly, thoroughly unimportant. This person could do things without concern that would horrify most people. To them, the thought of lying, stealing or committing violence would hold no intrinsic repulsion at all. They would see other people either as obstacles in the way of their goals, or else as tools to be pressed into service, through lying, persuasion, manipulation or threats, to achieve those goals. The ordinarily selfish person prioritises their own needs too much and neglects those of others but could perhaps be confronted with their selfishness and persuaded to change their ways. The person we are considering, however, fundamentally cannot understand why the needs of others should concern them at all, and there is nothing you could do to make them understand. It is as though you are trying to0 describe colours to someone who can only see in black and white. Now imagine that this person has acquired this way of seeing the world either purely through their genetic inheritance, or as the result of a childhood characterised by trauma and neglect, or as some combination of these two factors. Having reached this state as an adult, they are stuck there, as recalcitrant to therapy as they are to moral persuasion"--
"Introduction Imagine someone to whom other people are truly, thoroughly unimportant. This person could do things without concern that would horrify most people. To them, the thought of lying, stealing or committing violence would hold no intrinsic repulsion at all. They would see other people either as obstacles in the way of their goals, or else as tools to be pressed into service, through lying, persuasion, manipulation or threats, to achieve those goals. The ordinarily selfish person prioritises their own needs too much and neglects those of others but could perhaps be confronted with their selfishness and persuaded to change their ways. The person we are considering, however, fundamentally cannot understand why the needs of others should concern them at all, and there is nothing you could do to make them understand. It is as though you are trying to0 describe colours to someone who can only see in black and white. Now imagine that this person has acquired this way of seeing the world either purely through their genetic inheritance, or as the result of a childhood characterised by trauma and neglect, or as some combination of these two factors. Having reached this state as an adult, they are stuck there, as recalcitrant to therapy as they are to moral persuasion"--
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Psychotherapist and patient
Psychopaths.
Psychotherapy.
Psychopaths.
Psychotherapist and patient
Psychotherapy.