Psychopathy, agency, and practical reason

Abstract

In this chapter, I discuss how considerations about the psychopath’s capacity for practical rationality have featured in three metaethical debates. These debates include the role of rational faculties in moral judgment and action, the relationship between moral judgment and moral motivation, and the capacities required for morally responsible agency. For each debate, I articulate the role that theorists have afforded to psychopathy, and I identify and assess points of contention between competing views. I then show how the relevant arguments implicate four intersecting clusters of abilities that bear on the capacity for practical reason. I argue that attending to this suite of abilities - and how they interact to facilitate recognition and responsiveness to reasons for action in creatures like us - can help to delineate standards for an adequate theory of practical rationality.