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The Value-Ladenness of Psychopathy

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Psychopathy

Part of the book series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences ((HPTL,volume 27))

Abstract

The recurring claim that the construct of psychopathy is value-laden often is not qualified in enough detail. The chapters in this part of the volume, instead, investigate in depth the role and significance of values in different aspects of the construct of psychopathy. Following these chapters, but also by offering a background to them, we show how certain values are involved in the characterisation of psychopathy, inform societal needs satisfied by this construct, and have a central role in determining whether psychopathy is a mental disorder. Moreover, we relate this description to our criticism of the view that the entrenchment of the notion of psychopathy with values renders it in principle irreconcilable with sound psychiatric theory and practice. However, we also recognize that the value-ladenness of psychopathy leaves open other important challenges. Meeting them needs addressing interdisciplinary interrelated issues that have empirical, normative, and theoretical dimensions.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to John McMillan for his useful comments on a previous version of this chapter.

LM and MJ’s research is supported by the Croatian Science Foundation (project RAD, HRZZ-IP-2018-01-3518). MJ also thanks the University of Rijeka (project KUBIM, uniri-human-18-265) for financial support, and the hosts of the BIAS institute for their summer hospitality. Preliminary work on this chapter was an outcome of the Project CEASCRO (2014-2018, Croatian Science Foundation, HRZZ-IP-2013-11-8071).

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Marko Jurjako & Luca Malatesti

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  1. Marko Jurjako
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  2. Luca Malatesti
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Correspondence to Luca Malatesti .

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Luca Malatesti

  2. Bioethics Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    John McMillan

  3. Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Predrag Šustar

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Jurjako, M., Malatesti, L. (2022). The Value-Ladenness of Psychopathy. In: Malatesti, L., McMillan, J., Šustar, P. (eds) Psychopathy. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82454-9_12

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