tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post2818020459044718994..comments2023-10-30T04:16:25.917-04:00Comments on Sentient Developments: Are humans becoming more or less psychopathic?Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003484633933455827noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-76282966186738504492012-05-12T12:30:42.200-04:002012-05-12T12:30:42.200-04:00Interesting article.
I'm not able to find the...Interesting article.<br /><br />I'm not able to find the source for it, but I had read an article saying that research had shown that it was precisely because of the fact that we were predators, that mirror neurons developed in humans. Mirror neurons were the source of empathy as far as I remember. <br /><br />This is quite opposite what you've claimed here that predators would have trouble with empathyPrakashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10227431671018440503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-21671810585231895222012-05-11T12:26:24.626-04:002012-05-11T12:26:24.626-04:00@Nic: There is a big difference between autism and...@Nic: There is a big difference between autism and psychopathy. Autistics have a sense of compassion; psychopaths, by definition, don't.ZarPaulushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10923548883992534673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-16849161427886841012012-05-10T18:34:44.155-04:002012-05-10T18:34:44.155-04:00Thank you for a thought-provoking article. I'd...Thank you for a thought-provoking article. I'd like to raise a couple of objections.<br /><br /><i>It's very possible that psychopathy as a personality disorder will eventually be eliminated. This will clearly bode well for individuals</i><br /><br />You say this as though it's uncontroversial, but it really isn't. I understand (and certainly don't disagree with, incidentally) the view that greater empathy is likely, in general, to be a positive thing for society at large (whether or not for any given individual). However, it doesn't follow that this is invariably or inevitably true - it's conceivable that <i>too much</i> empathy could be disabling, for example, and indeed that there are different routes (intellectual rather than emotional, say) to ethical behaviour.<br /><br />A more serious objection (to my mind), however, concerns the question of classification. You seem to be implying that psychopathy - or, more broadly, perhaps <i>any</i> difference from 'neurotypical' development - is automatically and unambiguously a <i>disorder</i>, rather than just an unusual set of individual differences.<br /><br />To make this assumption (let alone to raise the question of whether parents could be "compelled to abort" an unusual child!) is to place, I suggest, rather too much value on statistical normality. Consider autistic spectrum disorders: at the 'low functioning' end of the spectrum, these can be crushingly disabling - but a good many of the most brilliant and influential minds in history are suspected to have been the products of its other extreme. Just how much human variation do we want to 'weed out'?<br /><br />As you mention, only a small minority of cases of psychopathy lead to criminal behaviour. Given the way psychopathy tends to be popularly described, it is perhaps worth stressing this: the vast majority of psychopaths are not criminals, and the vast majority of criminals (including many of the most violent or otherwise dangerous) are not psychopaths. Why, then, should we assume that society has a duty - or the right - to assume the worst and intervene?Nic Shakeshafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13126170078245538733noreply@blogger.com