know it's wrong
Sep. 29th, 2003 01:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
overoceawhilst researching my criminology essay I frequently come across:
psychopathy, the term forensic psychology uses to refer to something almost the equivalent to antisocial personality disorder; put simply, someone with no remorse, empathy or conscience.
conscience!
1. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.
2. A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement.
3. Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct.
definitions of words thoroughly confuse me, because words seem far more than their literal meanings. my dictionary would have at least two pages per word.
conscience. of course it is difficult in a world of a thousand various forms of parent per person to not have grown up to know the difference between right and wrong, the consequences of them both and the collective one's preference between the two. thus when choosing between right and wrong, justifications aside, one almost invariably knows which is which!
the knowledge alone can't be conscience, as psychopaths know what is wrong, they just choose wrong anyway.
are remorse, guilt, shame, pity, empathy, moral outrage! self-disgust/reproach, et cetera part of conscience?
if you know to murder is wrong, yet feel no shame, remorse or empathy and commit it anyway, you've no conscience. obvious.
if you know murder is wrong, yet would feel shame, remorse or empathy and commit it anyway... your conscience is a pussy and your id reigns supreme.
if you know murder is wrong, yet would feel no shame, remorse or empathy, yet do not commit it because you know it's wrong?
psychopathy, the term forensic psychology uses to refer to something almost the equivalent to antisocial personality disorder; put simply, someone with no remorse, empathy or conscience.
conscience!
1. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.
2. A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement.
3. Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct.
definitions of words thoroughly confuse me, because words seem far more than their literal meanings. my dictionary would have at least two pages per word.
conscience. of course it is difficult in a world of a thousand various forms of parent per person to not have grown up to know the difference between right and wrong, the consequences of them both and the collective one's preference between the two. thus when choosing between right and wrong, justifications aside, one almost invariably knows which is which!
the knowledge alone can't be conscience, as psychopaths know what is wrong, they just choose wrong anyway.
are remorse, guilt, shame, pity, empathy, moral outrage! self-disgust/reproach, et cetera part of conscience?
if you know to murder is wrong, yet feel no shame, remorse or empathy and commit it anyway, you've no conscience. obvious.
if you know murder is wrong, yet would feel shame, remorse or empathy and commit it anyway... your conscience is a pussy and your id reigns supreme.
if you know murder is wrong, yet would feel no shame, remorse or empathy, yet do not commit it because you know it's wrong?
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no subject
Date: 2003-10-03 02:38 am (UTC)can't resist attempting the.. uh, imporrible.
regarding the universal/relative morality debate, i'll faithfully assume you didn't simply side with universal because it's easier! it's also easy to blame behaviour on genetics, but when the conscienceless take the stand to claim, "genes made me do it," that will be just as difficult as "my parents made me." it's parallel to all nature/nurture debates that will continue to be pointlessly argued until our downfall, and i've essays to write. :
mmm, that analogy doesn't quite fit.
punishment to fit the crime as opposed to the criminal may be easier, but it's surely not as fair.