[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature


View post   

File: 32 KB, 606x630, 14542790_1190286661038252_144181555_n.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9586279 No.9586279 [Reply] [Original]

Can a psychopath cultivate virtue? Can a man with a disorder that is generally understood to outline immoral and antisocial behaviour, ever become a truly good person?

>> No.9586288

>>9586279
What do you think?

>> No.9586294

Yes, just watch anime. It happens ALLLL the time

>> No.9586299

>>9586288
I'm not sure, this is why I was asking. I was under the impression that virtue is intuited, and that you cultivate virtue through successfully intuiting the right or virtuous way to act in multiple situations, and then acting upon it. Would a psychopathic individual be inhibited in his ability to develop this intuition? Does he lack it entirely? Does he possess it and choose not to act on it?

>> No.9586321

Well, I suggest you watch James Fallon's Ted talk. He's an expert on psychopathy and found out during his research that he also had the neurological and psychological signs of psychopathy but he was neither violent nor anti-social in any strong sense.

Which lends some credence to the idea that biologically determined psychopathy can be tamed by socialization.

>> No.9586337

It depends on how deep his pathology really is. Trauma can trigger a change, but I highly doubt it.

Read Dostoevsky.

>> No.9586353

>>9586337
With regards to Dostoevsky, Raskolnikov certainly wasn't a psychopath, if that's what you are implying. Or are you referring to some of his other works?

>> No.9586372

>>9586321
This is a great suggestion, anon should definitively watch it.

>> No.9587014

>>9586279
what a coincidence, that is an idea for a story I've had for some time.

A former mob enforcer starts a mercenary business, much like Big Boss from Metal Gear, and discovers a global conspiracy. he dedicates the resources of his fledgling business to hunting down and Exterminating all globalists Before they eventually destroy him. Basically, he creates virtue by finding someone even worse than himself.

It's part of my own personal Sonichu except I'm in an endless cycle of world building and we never write anything set in it.