chaz wyman wrote:... the gibberish about the soul, eternal or otherwise.
Do you have an internal psychological state? If so, is it affected by your actions?
I am my internal state. It is not separate from me, and I have no reason to think that it is eternal. It cannot be affected by my actions as if it were on a separate causal layer.[/quote]OK, let me rephrase the question. Are you affected by your actions?[/quote]
Do you mean are their consequences for me, yes.
Is my internal state, as you call it, in a continual state of change, yes.
Does that have anything to do with a "soul' , or psyche, no.
chaz wyman wrote:... there are psychopaths that show empathy for others.
I believe you are wrong about that. From wikipedia:
Psychopathy ... was, until 1980, the term used for a personality disorder characterized by an abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct but masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal. The publication of DSM-III changed the name of this mental disorder.... Despite being currently unused in diagnostic manuals, psychopathy and related terms such as psychopath are still widely used by mental health professionals and laymen alike. ... clinicians generally believe that there is neither a cure nor any effective treatment for psychopathy; there are no medications that can instill empathy, while psychopaths who undergo traditional talk therapy only become more adept at manipulating others.
chaz wyman wrote:... there are psychopaths that show empathy for others.
I believe you are wrong about that. From wikipedia:
Psychopathy ... was, until 1980, the term used for a personality disorder characterized by an abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct but masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal. The publication of DSM-III changed the name of this mental disorder.... Despite being currently unused in diagnostic manuals, psychopathy and related terms such as psychopath are still widely used by mental health professionals and laymen alike. ... clinicians generally believe that there is neither a cure nor any effective treatment for psychopathy; there are no medications that can instill empathy, while psychopaths who undergo traditional talk therapy only become more adept at manipulating others.
I suggest that 'psychopath' is culturally defined. It is not in any event an absolute condition and psychopaths DO have empathy, some more or less than others- this is true of all humans; there are more things that are dreamt of in your philosophy. DO you possess exactly the same capacity for empathy as I do, and do you posses the same for those I choose to empathise with and those I do not - of course not. So one might reasonably conclude that for some people your attitude is psychopathic whilst for other MY attitude is psychopathic. I have noticed you love to think in absolutes, especially where they don't exist.
It is unreasonable to exclude humans from human morality in whatever way you choose to define them. That is what the likes of Hitler decided was the true moral pathway.
chaz wyman wrote:Do you mean are their consequences for me, yes.
Is my internal state, as you call it, in a continual state of change, yes.
Does that have anything to do with a "soul' , or psyche, no.
OK, sorry to confuse the issue with the word "soul." Let's forget that. My point is that people who harm others, lie, cheat, steal, etc., experience consequences for their internal state as well as external consequences such as getting caught and punished. Thus, self-interest would lead tbieter's hypothetical perpetrator to avoid such acts as cutting a child's throat on a whim. (Assuming the perpetrator had enough self-insight to realize it.)
chaz wyman wrote:I suggest that 'psychopath' is culturally defined. It is not in any event an absolute condition and psychopaths DO have empathy, some more or less than others- this is true of all humans....
I recommend a work of fiction for you, but based on truth: The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson.
chaz wyman wrote:I suggest that 'psychopath' is culturally defined. It is not in any event an absolute condition and psychopaths DO have empathy, some more or less than others- this is true of all humans....
I recommend a work of fiction for you, but based on truth: The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson.
I haven't read it.
I'm reading Koestler's Darkness at Noon atm.
What is you recommend about?
How nice!! i suggest that you eat your words, as you seem incapable of finding meaning in others'.
I just hear a bunch of people debating stupidity.
In that case why not go away and stop being a child? Find yourself another web site, or if you think you are so clever why not start a thread of your own and the I can tell you what I think of it.
chaz wyman wrote:And there are psychopaths that show empathy for others.
This sounds interesting. What psychopaths were evidenced to have some empathy?
You seem to think in black and white. It is not the case that non psychopaths have 100% empathy, and that psychopaths have 0% empathy.
I am a bit horrified that I need to point this out.
Take Hitler. Many would call him a psychopath, and yet he had major empathy for the German People, and he was well know to have loved his dog and his female partner.
chaz wyman wrote:And there are psychopaths that show empathy for others.
This sounds interesting. What psychopaths were evidenced to have some empathy?
You seem to think in black and white. It is not the case that non psychopaths have 100% empathy, and that psychopaths have 0% empathy.
I am a bit horrified that I need to point this out.
Take Hitler. Many would call him a psychopath, and yet he had major empathy for the German People, and he was well know to have loved his dog and his female partner.
Unfortunately we don't know of any psychologist or psychiatrist who studied him in person. medical NMR devices didn't exist back then. It's possible he had some genuine empathy. It's possible that this would not qualify him as a psychopath in the modern sense. It's also possible that he was a psychopath in the modern sense and loved his girlfriend the way a non-psychopathic yuppie might love their car. The fact that he tried to convince her to leave Berlin in the final weeks of WW2 seems to suggest otherwise though. Or are there people who care about what happens to their car after they die?
People close to him said he was not interested in seeing the destruction caused by anglo-american bombers as he travelled thru the cuntry by train in the final years of the war. This might of course have been an attempt to repress reality rather than a lack of empathy.
