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Empathy and Psychopaths’ Inability to Grieve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2023

Michael Cholbi
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Abstract

Psychopaths exhibit diminished ability to grieve. Here I address whether this inability can be explained by the trademark feature of psychopaths, namely, their diminished capacity for interpersonal empathy. I argue that this hypothesis turns out to be correct, but requires that we conceptualize empathy not merely as an ability to relate (emotionally and ethically) to other individuals but also as an ability to relate to past and present iterations of ourselves. This reconceptualization accords well with evidence regarding psychopaths’ intense focus on the temporal present and difficulties in engaging in mental time travel, as well as with the essentially egocentric and identity-based nature of grief.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy , Volume 98 , Issue 4 , October 2023 , pp. 413 - 431
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of Philosophy

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Footnotes

Editors' note: this paper is the joint winner of the 2022 Philosophy Essay Prize Competition.

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