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109The moral bioenhancement of psychopathsJournal of Medical Ethics 43 (10): 697-701. 2017.We argue that the mandatory moral bioenhancement of psychopaths is justified as a prescription of social morality. Moral bioenhancement is legitimate when it is justified on the basis of the reasons of the recipients. Psychopaths expect and prefer that the agents with whom they interact do not have certain psychopathic traits. Particularly, they have reasons to require the moral bioenhancement of psychopaths with whom they must cooperate. By adopting a public reason and a Kantian argument, we co…Read more
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21Schramme, Thomas, ed. Being amoral : MIT Press, 2014) (review)Journal of Value Inquiry 51 (1): 187-191. 2017.
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123Defending psychopathy: an argument from values and moral responsibilityTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 35 (1): 7-16. 2014.How psychopaths and their capacity for moral action are viewed is not only philosophically interesting but is also important and relevant for policy. The philosophical discussion of psychopathy has focussed upon the psychological faculties that are prerequisites for moral responsibility and empirical findings regarding psychopathy that are relevant to philosophical accounts of moral understanding and motivation. However, there are legitimate worries about whether psychopathy is a robust scientif…Read more
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113Metaphilosophy in Practice: The Responsibility of Psychopathic Offenders as a Case StudyAnthropology and Philosophy 12 85-100. 2015/2016.We argue that philosophy has an important role to play in bridging certain social practices with certain scientific advancements. Specifically, we describe such a role by focusing on the issue of how and whether neuropsychological data concerning psychopathic offenders reflect on their criminal culpability. We offer some methodological requirements for this type of philosophical application. In addition, we show how it might help in addressing the problem of determining the criminal responsibili…Read more
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42Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran BerčićProlegomena 12 (2): 245-259. 2013.Boran Berčić, in the second volume of his recent book "Filozofija" , offers two responses to David Chalmers’s conceivability or modal argument against physicalism. This latter argument aims at showing that zombies, our physical duplicates who lack consciousness, are metaphysically possible, given that they are conceivable. Berčić’s first response is based on the principle of the uniformity of nature that states that causes of a certain type will always cause effects of the same type. His second …Read more
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833Mary’s Scientific KnowledgeProlegomena 7 (1): 37-59. 2008.Frank Jackson’s knowledge argument (KA) aims to prove, by means of a thought experiment concerning the hypothetical scientist Mary, that conscious experiences have non-physical properties, called qualia. Mary has complete scientific knowledge of colours and colour vision without having had any colour experience. The central intuition in the KA is that, by seeing colours, Mary will learn what it is like to have colour experiences. Therefore, her scientific knowledge is incomplete, and conscious e…Read more
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18Conclusions: psychopathy and responsibility, a rejoinderIn Luca Malatesti & John McMillan (eds.), Responsibility and Psychopathy: Interfacing Law, Psychiatry and Philosophy, Oxford University Press, Usa. pp. 319. 2010.The philosophical contributes in the volume offer several considerations for the conclusion that psychopaths offenders should not be considered morally responsible for their crimes. We situate this conclusion within wider philosophical debates and indicate relevant directions of further research.
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44Conceptual challenges in the characterisation and explanation of psychiatric phenomenaEuropean Journal of Analytic Philosophy 6 (1): 5-10. 2010.b is collection focuses on conceptual issues that arise within the theoretical dimension of psychiatry. In particular, the invited contributions centre on the nature of psychiatric classification and explanation by addressing important methodological issues. Two strategies are exemplified here. Either the authors directly contribute to foundational issues in psychiatry concerning the nature of psychiatric classification and explanation; or they provide a conceptual analysis that can play a role …Read more
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136The Knowledge ArgumentDissertation, University of Stirling. 2004.Frank Jackson’s knowledge argument is a very influential piece of reasoning that seeks to show that colour experiences constitute an insoluble problem for science. This argument is based on a thought experiment concerning Mary. She is a vision scientist who has complete scientific knowledge of colours and colour vision but has never had colour experiences. According to Jackson, upon seeing coloured objects, Mary acquires new knowledge that escapes her complete scientific knowledge. He concludes …Read more
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29Joško Žanić, Značenje, stvarnost i konceptualna struktura: Ogled o temeljima semantike i njihovim ontološkim implikacijama (review)Croatian Journal of Philosophy 13 (2): 337-340. 2013.
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91Psychopathy, executive functions, and neuropsychological data: a response to Sifferd and HirsteinNeuroethics 11 (1): 55-65. 2018.Psychopathy, executive functions, and neuropsychological data: a response to Sifferd and Hirstein
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13Introduction: interfacing law, philosophy and psychiatryIn Luca Malatesti & John McMillan (eds.), Responsibility and Psychopathy: Interfacing Law, Psychiatry and Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 2010.
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421Moral Understanding in the PsychopathSynthesis Philosophica 24 (2): 337-348. 2009.A pressing and difficult practical problem concerns the general issue of the right social response to offenders classified as having antisocial personality disorder. This paper approaches this general problem by focusing, from a philosophical perspective, on the still relevant but more approachable question whether psychopathic offenders are morally responsible. In particular, I investigate whether psychopaths possess moral understanding. A plausible way to approach the last question requires a …Read more
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57Review of Bortolotti, L., Delusions and other Irrational Beliefs (review)Journal of Applied Philosophy 28 (1): 93-96. 2011.Bortolotti's book offers a significant and successful example of the emerging “new” analytic philosophy of psychiatry. Methodologically, it exemplifies a fruitful two-way interaction between philosophy and empirical investigation. Empirical results from cognitive sciences and clinical research are used to constrain philosophical assumptions about beliefs and delusions. Rigorous philosophical argumentation is employed to clarify and adjudicate theoretical interpretations of empirical data concern…Read more
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418The aim of this paper is to analyze, from a philosophical perspective, the scientific robustness of the construct of psychopathy as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist Revised that was developed by Robert Hare (1991; 2003). The scientific robustness and validity of classifications are topics of many debates in philosophy of science and philosophy of psychiatry more specifically. The main problem consists in establishing whether scientific classifications reflect natural kinds where the concept…Read more
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84The Knowledge Argument and Phenomenal ConceptsCambridge Scholars Press. 2012.There is widespread debate in contemporary philosophy of mind over the place of conscious experiences in the natural world – where the latter is taken to be broadly as described and explained by such sciences as physics, chemistry and biology; while conscious experiences encompass pains, bodily sensations, perceptions, feelings and moods. Many philosophers and scientists, who endorse physicalism or materialism, maintain that these mental states can be completely described and explained in natura…Read more
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Mind-body identity, the property objection and eventsAnthropology and Philosophy 2 (1): 69-85. 1997.
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547Thinking about phenomenal conceptsSynthesis Philosophica 26 (2): 391-402. 2011.Frank Jackson’s knowledge argument and different conceivability arguments, advanced by Saul Kripke, David Chalmers and Joseph Levine, conclude that consciousness involves non-physical properties or properties that cannot be reductively accounted for in physical terms. Some physicalists have replied to these objections by means of different versions of the phenomenal concept strategy. David Chalmers has responded with the master argument, a reasoning that, if successful, would undermine any reaso…Read more
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532Psychopathy and Failures of Ordinary DoingEtica & Politica / Ethics & Politics (2): 1138-1152. 2014.One of the philosophical discussions stimulated by the recent scientific study of psychopathy concerns the mental illness status of this construct. This paper contributes to this debate by recommending a way of approaching the problem at issue. By relying on and integrating the seminal work of the philosopher of psychiatry Bill Fulford, I argue that a mental illness is a harmful unified construct that involves failures of ordinary doing. Central to the present proposal is the idea that the notio…Read more
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1098Moralni, Politički I Društveni Odgovori Na Društvene Devijacije (Eng. Moral, Political, and Social Responses to Antisocial Deviation) (edited book)Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka. 2016.Ovaj je zbornik nastao kao rezultat istraživanja provedenog unutar istoimenoga znanstveno-istraživačkoga projekta na kojemu su urednici istovremeno bili i glavni istraživači, a ostali autori članovi istraživačke skupine. Kao svjedoci različitih vrsta otklona od prevladavajućeg, uobičajenoga, normalnoga, pozitivnog ili ponašanja koje se karakterizira kao asocijalno, zapitali smo se – što postojeće čini normom, treba li odstupanje od norme nužno smatrati devijacijom i kakvi su poželjni društveni o…Read more
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62Phenomenal Ways of ThinkingTeorema: International Journal of Philosophy 27 (3): 149-166. 2008.Certain conceivable situations figure as premises in arguments for the conclusion that conscious experiences have nonphysical properties or qualia. Frank Jackson's knowledge argument considers the hypothetical scientist Mary, who despite having complete scientific knowledge of colour vision, supposedly lacks knowledge of qualia. Both Saul Kripke's and David Chalmers' modal arguments involve zombies, conceivable creatures physically identical to us who lack qualia. Several physicalists have repli…Read more
Luca Malatesti
University of Rijeka
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University of RijekaProfessor
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mind |
Philosophy of Psychiatry |
Mental Illness |
PhilPapers Editorships
Psychopathy |
Psychopathy as Mental illness |
Psychopathy and Responsibility |
Psychopathy, Misc |