Psychopaths and moral responsibility

• Main Author: Chia, Charmaine
• Other Authors: Grace Boey
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Humanities::Philosophy
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/165470
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Given that psychopaths suffer from deficits in emotional processing and commit immoral actions, we have looked at literature in discussing the characteristics of psychopaths and how philosophers’ proposed accounts of how these characteristics links to moral responsibility. In this paper, I will be leveraging on Fisher & Ravizza’s definition of moral responsibility requiring guidance control (reason-responsiveness and actions committed by the agent) to discuss the issue on psychopaths and whether they can be morally responsible for their behaviors. Glannon argues that psychopaths are morally responsible for their behaviors because their emotional deficits did not damage their rational capacities, so they are still able to respond to reasons abstaining from immoral behaviors. In response to Glannon, I argue that psychopaths are not morally responsible for their behaviors, because they cannot feel moral emotions at an intensity compared to non-psychopaths, so it will not be automatic for them to consider moral reasons in abstaining from immoral behaviors, hence it will be harder for them control their own behaviors and respond to reasons abstaining from immoral behaviors.