Controversies and contradictions in the diagnosis of psychopathy: psychic disorder or moral failure?

Abstract

We intend to establish a relationship between crime, the relative indifference towards the banalization of evil and the forms of dissolution of ties, in the social fabric, from the perspective of acts that produce indescribable traces. Therefore, we focus on the action of the psychopath in an inquiry about the diagnosis of this modality of subjectivation. This approach to psychopathy, whether as a psychic disorder or a moral flaw, serves as an argument about crime in terms of the dynamics of fraternal groups. With that, we ask what kind of social practice can be thought of for people who include in the rubric of psychopathy: psychic treatment or prison? This question is fundamental for us to reflect on the controversies and contradictions, both regarding the diagnosis of psychopathy and the fate of those who commit crimes and are cataloged under this label. Therefore, more than a clinical question, psychopathy has moral problems.