Capacities and dispositions what psychiatry and psychology have to say about evil

Abstract

Psychology and psychiatry have an important social role in naming and describing deviance from group and individual norms. Traditionally, the mental health sciences have taken the lead in taking potentially harmful or unusual mental states and behaviors out of a moral discourse of good and bad, and into a health discourse of ill and well. In this chapter, I argue that there are valuable insights from psychology and psychiatry that can help us in understanding how people come to do that which is morally repugnant, or evil. I conclude, however, that the concept of evil has a moral and cultural significance that is distinct from health and disease; and as such, the role of mental health is limited. © 2006 Humana Press Inc.