Date of Award
11-2016
Document type
Thesis
Degree Name
Masters theses/dissertations - taught courses
First Supervisor
Dr. John Scally
Keywords
Neurology, Psychopathy, Psychosurgery, Autonomy, Relational, Authenticity
Abstract
This paper will first briefly touch on the history of psychopathy as a medical condition and the history of psychosurgery in the modern/scientific era. An alternative classification of the three personality anti-social disorders - psychopathy, sociopathy, and anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) - will be posited in the light of recent neurological and evolutionary based findings.
A current and popular ethical framework, Principlism, will be employed as a guiding tool which may be appropriate to address the dilemma at the heart of the hypothetical case at hand. An alternative approach to resolution of the dilemma, namely the relational methodology, is then put forward for consideration. It is argued that the latter framework leads to a different conclusion, and that, given the more nuanced analysis it allows for, one which can be said to hold greater sway in efforts to resolve the dilemma at hand. It is found that, by considering the roles of autonomy, authenticity, and context, under the ethical framework of Relational Theory, there are stronger arguments in favour of allowing the incarcerated violent psychopath the option of brain alteration as an alternative to long-term incarceration than there are against withholding said option.
Link to this item at
http://epubs.rcsi.ie/mscttheses/101/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
File Size
1.31 MB
Citation
Randles M. The Role of Autonomy, Authenticity, and Context in a Hypothetical Dilemma: The Case of An Incarcerated Violent Criminal, and a New Way to ‘Fix’ her Brain [MSc Thesis]. Dublin: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; 2016.
Comments
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Masters in Health Care Ethics and Law, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland 2016.