Charles Manson, dead at age 83

[Edwardo Piet]

From what I've read Charles Manson was more psychotic than psychopathic. The two are very different. Charles Manson's murders were incredibly immoral, but from what I have read he was acutely deluded in such a way that he genuinely believed that what he was doing was moral. A true psychopath doesn't give a shit about morality and would only pretend to care about morality so they can more easily manipulate people for their own selfish ends. Psychopaths know they're 'evil' and sadistic but they don't give a shit, and Charles Manson whilst being a disgusting murderer... supposedly really genuinely thought he was doing good.

Yeah, I didn't say anything about Charles Manson being psychopathic. I'm just making general points here.

But anyway, a psychopath nevertheless has a mental deficiency in moral reasoning as they don't really see what's wrong about the things that most people intuitively understand to be wrong.

I disagree because I don't think having no consicence means you don't understand something is wrong. It means that you don't feel that something is wrong. Psychopaths can know that hurting people is bad but they don't care. You seem to be making the argument that Socrates made that no one knowingly does evil. I disagree with that strongly because there are many evil things that I could do that are evil. I'm not incapable of doing those things just because I know they are evil. Just because I don't do those things doesn't mean I can't.

There's even been more recent scientific evidence that it may be the case that it's untrue that psychopaths don't have empathy, and in fact it looks like they have some sort of "empathy switch" where they can turn their empathy on and off as they please. Which would explain why they can often come across as empathetic so easily. They have no conscience, or no compassion, but not necessarily no empathy and they can make themselves feel what others are feeling to blend in, and then they can switch it back off again, murder someone for fun, bury the body and just continue with their life as if nothing happened, without a care in the world.

So, it's not that they're incapable of recognizing that hurting people is bad and it's bad for them to hurt people. And in fact it's not even that they're necessarily incapable of stepping into the position of those who think hurting people is bad and to know what it feels like to feel the hurt of someone else. It's more that a normal person can't help but feel compassion, they don't have a choice, they care too much, their conscience overpowers them, they're trapped by it, and for a 'normal' person it's not like empathy is just some other kind of tool in their toolbox to get what they want.

It's almost like they feel things on such a shallow level that morality doesn't motivate them, it's not that they don't understand or feel them at all. Psychopaths are usually far too sane, rational and high functioning to not understand that something is wrong, unlike low-functioning sociopaths or those who suffer from "anti social personality disorder".

There has also been recent scientific evidence that psychopaths can feel fear and anxiety, but they have trouble sensing danger. Or, they can sense it but they don't care about it enough for their brain to give many signals that they sense it. Or IOW, their own pleasure is more important, regardless of who gets hurt. But supposedly many years ago scientists thought they had found less fear signals in a psychopaths brain than normal, but they have more recently thought that it was probably danger signals not fear signals and psychopaths do feel fear they just go ahead and do stuff anyway. Think of courage but not in an honorable way. They'll ignore their fear to pursue sadistic stimulation and hurt people regardless of how wrong it is and if they feel any guilt at all it will be at such a low level that they're not even aware of it. Or it's so watered down and shallow that it's merely a tool. But that's not to say they can't switch it on and off. Maybe they are completely aware of that and they can use that 'empathy switch' consciously, maybe not, maybe it's just a coping mechanism for surviving in a world where most people think other people's well-being is important. Maybe they're not aware of it at all. Maybe some are aware and some are not, maybe some start off unaware and become aware. Who knows? (Them? The scientists? I guess the psychopaths themselves would be the only ones who knew from a first person perspective. And evidence and knowledge is not the same, as is very clear from scientists changing their mind about what the brain differences between psychopaths and 'normal people' actually mean).

That's the scientific evidence. I also have my own personal opinion that psychopaths feel like everyone else is a psychopath because they have no concept of anyone being any other way besides 100% selfish and it feels to them like everyone else is "faking it"? Just a thought.